So I'm a Witch Apparently
by Avery Liddell
Summary: Self-insert, OCs, slight AU. First chapter is a summary of sorts. Avery is based off my 11-year-old self, who is rather derpy and not very special. She goes to Hogwwarts with Dev and Carly, while meeting some of the canon cast. Review if you like.
1. Summary

**Summary: **

**Slight AU, self-insert OC. Possible eventual pairings, most will be kept to canon. Possible OC pairings, but most likely not until much later. (11-year-old me wasn't fond of boys yet...) I can't think of any Harry Potter fans who never dreamed of receiving their own Hogwarts letter, and I am no different. I have decided that, for sake of writing something, to write about the adventures I dreamed of since I was a little girl, waiting for owls to drop by the house and for someone to tell me I was extraordinary. Of course, the canon will be altered a bit to account for my character's (and a few other OCs') actions, and the timeline is slightly altered to accommodate my age at the time, but nothing to detract from the story, since most of it takes place in the castle anyway. Avery Liddell is supposed to be a representation of my rather derpy 11-year-old self, and is commonly my pen name. I realize I have already broken a lot of "rules of fanfiction" already. I don't really expect many people are interested in my stories but maybe one friend. If you like the story, that's great, I like telling stories people enjoy. If not, I'm sorry, maybe you'll find something better to read, like a story about Albus Potter (I rather like them myself, especially about Slytherin!Albus). Happy reading.**


	2. 1 The Woman Who Was Also a Cat

The Woman Who Was Also a Cat

It was mid-summer break, and an 11-year-old girl named Avery slept blissfully unaware through the first hours of what was going to be a defining day in her life. She was tall for her age, with long blond curls that looked like something had nested in them. If anything actually had, it might have been her cat, a calico that slept closely to her head. A sound of tapping woke up the drowsy cat, who stepped on her owner's face before leaping for the windowsill. Avery woke with an agitated grunt, and a stern word at her pet. She picked up a pair of large rimmed glasses and adjusted them awkwardly, looking around her room to see where the cat had gone. She was staring intently at a small tawny owl that had perched itself in a tree outside the house, and Avery only took a few seconds to observe the bird before shrugging and trudging down the stairs for breakfast. It was an uninteresting bowl of cereal, though Avery seemed to like it enough. Her mother was at her desk, typing away idly on a chat site.

"Boots is so stupid, mom. She thinks she can catch an owl through the window." Avery commented in a casual tone. Her mother looked up, seemingly surprised.

"There's an owl?" She asked, disbelief on her face. Avery nodded. "Owls are night birds, Avery. It might have been something else. Maybe a hawk."

"Oh." Avery didn't seem to care, her point remained the same regardless. "Well, she's still kinda dumb. I hope she doesn't try to jump through the glass or something."

Avery often tried to use her cat as a way to start conversation. She wasn't a very socially adept person, and was kept inside most of the time. There wasn't much to talk about, and no one to talk with anyway. Her mother used her computer to keep in touch with outside people, but Avery was often left alone for the most part, without a computer of her own to make friends with.

"That would be terrible." Her mother said, deeply engrossed in reading something. "Do the dishes."

Fortunately, doing the dishes wasn't hard, since the family owned a dishwasher. Still, Avery would have liked to hear her say "please", or maybe participate more in a discussion. It felt like she was invisible most of the time.

Avery did her small task and then sat in front of the tv. There wasn't anything on that interested her, but she would usually watch anyway. There wasn't much else to do. Her mom would often tell her to play outside, which Avery loved to do, but without friends to play with it felt pointless. She was becoming a master of more solitary activities, like drawing, writing, reading, and playing video games. The only one who ever kept her company for these things was Boots, the calico that had used her face as a launching pad earlier. Avery spent most of her days alone in her room, far away from her half-sister, whom Avery considered to be more like a monster than a human. The other girl had problems, things wrong with her that made her a violent and irrational creature, and Avery preferred not to get in her way if she could help it. Most of Avery's friends were either afraid of her as well, or felt sympathy for her, the latter made Avery feel sick with anger and guilt. She often prayed for her sister's disappearance, or for someone to take Avery away to a new home. It never happened, and Avery sometimes asked in her prayers if the God in power could take her in her sleep, but she would always wake up anyway. Her prayers went unheard and uncared about.

"Avery, do you have shoes on? I need you to do something for me."

Avery got up from her comfy spot on the couch rather quickly. She knew she couldn't sit there all day anyway- she'd have to go to her room when her sister woke up later.

"What?" Avery didn't have shoes on, but her mother didn't notice anyway.

"Take this out to the mailbox, sweetie." She handed Avery a few envelopes, and Avery guessed they were bills. "Remember to put the flag up."

"Ok." Avery went outside, and painfully walked across their long, gravel driveway to reach the mailbox on the other side of the road.

Their house was modestly sized, considering how old it was. It had two bedrooms, with one small living room that was converted into a bedroom for Avery's sister. The two bedrooms occupied the entire second floor. There was a dining room that was converted into the new living room, and two small kitchens placed by each other to make a small kitchen and a small dining area. The house was green and stood on acres of land, some covered by woods and some with animals. Avery didn't really like many of the animals, but she liked the many cats that came around. A small band of strays followed her to the mailbox, which stood alone across the house. No other mailboxes, or houses for that matter, were in sight. Just trees, with a stretch of road that reached somewhere beyond them. Avery crossed the road, and shook a few small pebbles from out of the folds in her feet. She opened the mailbox to stuff the bills inside, when she noticed it was occupied by other papers and envelopes.

"What's here?" Avery wondered to herself. She pulled the fat stack of mail out of the box, and replaced them with the envelopes. She took some time to quickly scan the mail- Avery was always curious. Many times she had found out about overdue bills this way, and it kept her up to date with how her parents were doing financially. They never liked telling her about it, because a child shouldn't worry about those kinds of things, but Avery would worry anyway. She was young, not stupid, and knew that her family was pretty poor. She wanted to evaluate how poor they really were.

"Bill, I think." Avery sorted through the envelopes quickly. "Junk, junk..." One letter caught her eye. The envelope was a different color, and she felt an odd texture on the back. Upon inspection she saw it was closed with a seal, and when she flipped it over she was surprised to see her name. It was scrawled in dark green ink, curiously enough, and in a handwriting she didn't recognize as any relative's. Avery decided to open the letter now, in case it contained something embarrassing. Like a secret admirer, perhaps? Avery didn't think anyone actually liked her, but if someone did she didn't want her mom to tease her about something as stupid as a boy.

The letter looked formal. It started, "Dear Ms. Avery Liddell..."

_I wonder if this is important..._ Avery thought.

"We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Avery stared at the letter blankly. "It's some sort of hoax." She decided aloud. As she contemplated crumbling up the useless paper right now, she heard a stern, Scottish accent from someone that must have suddenly appeared behind her.

"It is most certainly not a hoax, Miss Liddell."

Avery jumped, spooked by the sudden presence of an elderly woman. She wore long green robes, and a witchy looking hat, even though it wasn't near October yet. She also had a pair of rectangular spectacles, which reminded her of the markings she admired on a cat that had followed her outside...

"What... how did you get behind me?" Avery stepped backwards onto the road, forgetting the danger of being run over by the sudden threat this stranger seemed to pose. Avery was taught to be suspicious of people, and someone sneaking up on her on her own property was making her feel like she should flee and call the cops. The woman showed no signs of trying to kidnap or otherwise harm Avery, however, and looked a little sympathetic.

"Perhaps I should have introduced myself less abruptly. Nevertheless, I am the one who sent you your letter, Miss Liddell, and I have come to explain to your family about the importance of your attendance to our school."

Avery nervously stepped off the road. "Who are you?"

"As the letter says, I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress."

"Oh." Avery blushed slightly. "Err... you want to talk to my mom?"

"Precisely, I'm afraid she might not believe the letter otherwise."

Avery contemplated allowing this stranger to follow her to the house. Her mother would certainly freak out, and most likely would chase the woman away with threats anyway. Besides, it seemed odd that a kidnapper or homicidal maniac would want to be taken to her victim's house first, so maybe this really was legit...

"Ok..." She led the strange woman to her home, stepping on gravel painfully on the way there. "Stay here," Avery instructed. "I gotta get her..."

Minerva stood by the door, as Avery cautiously stepped inside and laid all but one piece of the mail on a nearby table. "Mom?" Avery called, rather timidly. "Mom?" She tried again, louder.

"What?" A shout from the living room.

"Mom, some lady here wants to talk to you about something..."

Avery's mother sat up from her comfortable spot on the couch. Avery noted to herself that her spot on the couch had been stolen, and a part of her entertained the thought that her mother sent her outside simply to take it.

"About what?" Her mother sounded confused.

"Um, this letter thing I got, it's about school..." Avery offered the letter to her, and she took it. Straining to read, Avery watched her mom's face contort into a rather ugly look. "What the hell is this?" She asked Avery, as though somehow Avery knew.

"I don't know. There's a lady from the school here."

Avery's mother stood up carefully, but began to suddenly stomp over to where McGonigall was waiting patiently.

"What is this?" She asked hysterically, waving the letter in front of the professor's nose. "Who's trying to take my daughter?"

"Ma'am, there is no need to get worked up. I will explain the situation." Minerva said calmly.

"Then explain it! Since when has there been schools that taught witchcraft? We're a Christian family, I'll have you know, and I don't know what kind of cult you're trying to pull my daughter into..."

"Ma'am, I find that rather offensive... my father was a minister, I assure you that we are NOT part of some sort of dark cult."

"I want proof." Avery watched her mother place her hands on her hips, and knew instantly that she was giving Minerva her glare of intimidation. However, Minerva did not flinch.

"May I come inside?"

"No." It was a flat answer. Minerva looked a little annoyed, but not angry.

"You see, ma'am, in this world, there are people born with magic, and those born without. We call the ones who use magic 'witches' or 'wizards', and those that have no magic to use we call 'Muggles'."

"A what?" Avery's mother looked as if she had been insulted. Minerva continued to keep her calm composure, and Avery felt a surge of admiration for this woman.

"A Muggle, a person who is not a witch or wizard. It is not any sort of racial term, if that's what you thought." Her piercing look seemed to emphasize this. "Now, as the ages have gone by, naturally there have been many marriages between wizards and Muggles, and the result is usually a wizard child. However," Minerva paused, making sure to reel in the attention of her small audience, "sometimes, a Muggle child is produced- a Squib, we call them. And when this Squib marries another Muggle, their wizarding heritage can be forgotten for several generations, until one generation produces another witch or wizard somewhere far down the line." She nodded in the direction of Avery, though her mother continued to try and stare down her strange visitor.

"You're saying we're related to wizards?" She asked, disbelieving. "I think you're insane."

"Very well." Minerva said. "If I showed you an example, would you believe my explanation?"

Her mother looked thoughtful. After a moment, she said, "I want to see you do something."

Minerva smiled, looked at Avery, and suddenly morphed into a cat.

Avery gave a small cry of delighted surprise. Her mother screamed, and Minerva quickly turned back into a woman.

"Did I frighten you?" She asked, concerned.

"You... you surprised me." Avery's mother looked uncertainly at her daughter, then at the woman who had just transformed into a cat. "Are you telling me... Avery... she can do that too?"

"Well, she can learn." Minerva explained more casually. "Of course, animagus transfiguration is very advanced magic... she'll start off with simpler spells, like turning paper into plates... I teach transfiguration at Hogwarts, so she'll have good instructions..."

Avery felt her mom's curious stare, and suddenly felt like a freak. From now on, her mother would look at her like this, like a stranger...

"Have you decided on whether you wish to send your daughter to Hogwarts?" Minerva asked, drawing the attention away from Avery. "I must insist of course, that she learn how to properly control her magic and the rules of our society..."

"Your society?" Her mother asked, surprised.

"Wizards have had their own society for centuries." Minerva explained. "Muggles drove us into hiding a long time ago. You have heard of the witch hunts, if I'm not mistaken, even in your own Muggle history."

"Oh yes... I see." Her mother nodded. "Well, that makes sense. I will think about it, but I think it might be good for her..."

"I'm pleased to hear so." Minerva said. "Do you know when you want to purchase your daughter's school things?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Someone will need to show you to Diagon Alley," she continued, "and explain how to exchange your Muggle money."  
>"Err, can we maybe reach you when we're ready to go?" Her mom asked. "A phone number to call?"<p>

"A phone... sorry?"

"Yes, a phone, does your school have a number I can call?"

McGonagall looked as if she had no faint idea of what a phone was. "No, no... someone will arrive at a pre-scheduled date, then. August 20th should be a good date as any, I expect. I hope this is convenient for you."

"So do I." Avery's mom laughed lightly, but Minerva didn't seem to get what was funny.

"I must be off to inform other Muggle-born children." She informed them. "I apologize for having to leave. Please remember, August 20th." And with a cracking sound, she seemed to disappear entirely.

Avery's mom turned around slowly, not sure if she should be proud or suspicious of her daughter. Avery felt a little ashamed, as thought it were her fault she was being an inconvenience to what her mother accepted as reality. She felt like her mother blamed her for intentionally being a witch, and then keeping it a secret from them, but Avery honestly had no idea. She decided to go to her room, and sat on her bed. There was a small tv for video games in her room, but she didn't feel like playing. Boots jumped onto her lap and purred comfortingly, while Avery absently scratched her ears.

She hoped that her friend from school had gotten a letter too, and wondered what going to a witch school would be like. Would they have lockers? Would they have those neat old fashioned desks that opened from the top? Would she have to fly on a broomstick everyday instead of catching the bus? So many new things had cropped up to make Avery worry, and worry she did.

But at the same time she was brimming with excitement. It felt like maybe, someone had been paying attention to her prayers after all.


	3. 2 The Ordinary Witch

2. The Ordinary Witch

The following days of summer could not match up to Minerva McGonagall's visit, even if they had been trying to. Avery could scarcely let herself think that the moment had been more than just a dream. As August 20th approached her, Avery would reread the letter over and over, amazement flooding though her each time. She noticed that first years were not permitted to own broomsticks, and worried about how she'd get to school every day. Would someone pick her up?

As Avery's head filled with curiosity, it also filled with worry. Where would she find spellbooks and wands? Diagon Alley had not sounded familiar.

Finally, the 20th arrived. It was a cold, rainy day outside, and the gravel driveway squicked with mud. The cats stayed close to the door, keeping their fur as dry as they could, as Boots watched tauntingly from inside. Avery anxiously watched her windows, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone coming up the road. Time took forever.

There was a loud sound, like a "pop!", that made the dogs bark madly and Avery's heart jump. It was followed by a knock, a pause, then the sound of their doorbell.

Avery rushed to the door, but her mother yelled for her to stay back while she answered. From behind her mom, Avery saw what looked like a rather normal, blond woman. She felt disappointed.

"Hello, is this the right address? I'm looking for a young miss Avery Liddell."

"Yes, are you with the... school?" Mom looked uncertain if she should mention the name.

"I'm Charity Burbage, a professor at Hogwarts." The woman kindly explained. "I was sent to give you a tour of Diagon Alley this afternoon, if you're still available. I hope you are, it's very important that we get your daughter's things before September."

"Where's Prof. McGonagall?" Her mom looked over this woman's shoulder, as if she were hiding behind the other woman.

"Minerva is very busy, we have many students to address. I assure you, I'm well qualified to show your daughter and you around."

"You'll have to take my husband with you instead, I have to stay and watch my other daughter, she's in a wheelchair." Avery listened as, for the umpteenth time, her mother launched into the hardships and joys of parenting a problem child. As usual, she left out the nasty bits where her other daughter became scarily violent and dangerous, downplaying them by explaining "she gets upset a lot".

The woman listened intently, before coming inside and briefly meeting them. She seemed to be intrigued by the wheelchair and many other normal household objects, before finally reminding them that they were on a sort of schedule. Avery was thankful that they would stop fawning over her sister now, and put on her oversized purple jacket. It stopped at her knees and made it look as though she wore nothing else. She and her stepdad, a tall man named John, were instructed to hold onto Burbage, as with another "pop!" they were squeezed through an invisible tube and plopped somewhere in a dark pub. Avery caught her breath and tried to straighten herself up, before tensing when Prof. Burbage asked if they still had all their body parts. After inspecting themselves, John and Avery followed their guide out a door that led to a dead end.

"Here we are!" Said Burbage cheerfully. She seemed to notice the protective grip that John held on his daughter. "Don't worry sir, I haven't brought you here to hang out in an alleyway."

"That's what it looks like." John said, eyeing her with suspicion.

"The entrance to Diagon Alley is hidden here. Look..." She pulled out a wand, which Avery watched with wonder, and tapped a brick in the wall. The brick wriggled, and the wall began to shift itself into an archway that led to a busy street. What Avery saw there was incredible- shops lined each side, with bizarre displays in their windows. Broomsticks, cauldrons, barrels overflowing with strange-looking plants... Avery read the signs, which advertised things like "moth wings" and "dragon scales". Far down the alley loomed a large white building, looking important. After staring in awe, Avery turned to look at Prof. Burbage, who was watching her with a smile.

"What do you think?" She asked Avery, clearly enjoying the expressions of two people who had never seen such a magic-filled location.

"It's amazing!"

"Well, come on, we've got to get you to that big white building over there."

"What's the building for?" John asked, keeping a watchful eye on Avery, in case she wandered away to explore the interesting shops.

"Well sir, the building is Gringotts, a wizard's bank. You can't buy your supplies with Muggle money, so you'll need an exchange."

"Oh." John seemed to appreciate the sense that this made.

The three of them approached the bank, which was astoundingly larger when you stood in front of it. The insides were made of marble, and behind the counters were very small, odd-looking men.

"Goblins." The professor told them, noticing their curious stares. "No one better than goblins to run a bank."

One goblin in particular was watching them as they approached the counter. He wore a small pair of spectacles on his long nose, and smiled crookedly. Avery was unsure about goblins, but everyone else seemed okay with them.

"We're here to do an exchange."

"How much will you be exchanging, Miss. Burbage?"

"Oh, well..." She turned to John, and explained to him the currency and exchange rates of wizard money and English money. Avery stopped paying attention, and instead watched as goblins led other wizards and witches through many doors, leading somewhere dark. She started to feel a little nervous about going through the doors herself...

"Alright, that will do." Prof. Burbage's voice snapped Avery back to the present, and she noticed John was now carrying a sack of coins.

"Are we done?" Avery asked nervously, hoping they could leave without going through any mysterious doors.

"Yep." John answered, sounding pleased as well.

"You don't have a vault here, so there's no need to go see them." Burbage explained. "Come on now, let's fit you for your robes first, I bet you're excited about that."

"Err." Avery hated shopping for clothes. She didn't like having to try things on while her parents fussed over what looked right and what didn't fit. Clothes were clothes, after all.

John nudged her playfully, understanding her reply. "C'mon you, get it over with." He smiled.

They found a shop called Madam Malkin's, where a witch took one look at Avery and asked, "Hogwarts, is it dear?"

"Yes please." John answered for her.

"Very well, I'm used to seeing students in here all the time. Hello Charity, fancy seeing you as well."

"Hello." Burbage smiled politely. "How have you been?"

"Oh, I've been quite alright darling." Madam Malkin spoke freely as a magical tape measure took Avery's height, bust, and hip measurements. "Teaching at Hogwarts?"

"Muggle Studies."

"Ah yes, I thought you would. Mr. Quirrel resigned, didn't he?"

"He teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."

"Has something happened to him? He came in for some new robes last month, had a very nasty stutter..."

A different witch ushered Avery to a stool, which she stood on while the witch began to tailor her new robes.

"Poor thing." She heard Madam Malkin remark, after Burbage must have explained what had happened to the other teacher. "Oh, I almost forgot! Did you hear who else was here?"

"Who?"

"Harry Potter!"

This seemed to delight Prof. Burbage, who clapped her hands over her mouth in a gasp.

"Harry Potter!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Oh, its been ten years already!"

"Indeed it has. How time flies."

"Is it true? Does he have... you know..."

"His scar? Saw it myself dear, shaped like a bolt of lightening."

Prof. Burbage looked amazed, but then looked reserved.

"Poor boy, having to have such a reminder with him everywhere..." She sighed.

The witches discussed Harry Potter more as Avery stepped off of her stool, now fitted for her robes. John payed for them with silver coins, when Prof. Burbage excused herself and led them out of the shop. Their next stop was a place that sold cauldrons, where Avery picked out a pewter one. She also bought a set of glass vials and some basic ingredients for potion brewing, which made Avery feel squeamish. Avery's favorite stop was into Flourish and Blott's, a store that sold books about magic.

Avery felt quite at home surrounded by books. She enthusiastically browsed shelves and inspected all the different kinds of books, amazed by the range of subjects.

"You like reading things, do you?" Prof. Burbage seemed pleased about Avery's reluctance to leave, even after already buying her textbooks. "You might wind up in Ravenclaw."

"What's Ravenclaw?" Avery asked, momentarily looking away from a pile of books that were undoubtedly humming.

"Ravenclaw is one of the houses at Hogwarts." Prof. Burbage explained. "There are four. Each student is sorted into a house at the beginning of the year, and that's where they stay throughout the years. It's where you sleep, relax, study, and make your first friends."

"I still don't know what a Ravenclaw is."

"Well, Ravenclaws are some of the brightest students." She continued, "they're really intelligent and eager to learn. Then there's Hufflepuff, where members value honesty and hard work. Gryffindor is for the brave at heart and loyal, while Slytherin... well, Slytherins are very ambitious."

Avery began to worry again. None of those houses seemed to describe her.

"What happens if you don't fit any of that?"

"Don't worry about it, you'll be sorted into one of them. Although..." Prof. Burbage thought it over. "I believe Hufflepuff takes students that might be... out of place..."

"I bet that's where I'll end up." Avery said, a little disappointed.

"Hufflepuff's a good house, you'd look good in yellow and black..."

Avery's heart sunk lower. She hated yellow.

"But like I said, don't worry about it. I think you'd do well in Ravenclaw."

"What colors are they?" Avery asked warily.

"Blue and bronze, with an eagle as their mascot. Gryffindor is scarlet and gold, and represnted with a lion. Slytherin's are green and silver, and their animal is the snake. Hufflepuffs are badgers."

"Hm." Avery liked green the best, but since cats were her favorite animal, she also hoped she'd be a Gryffindor. It seemed odd that Ravenclaw wasn't actually represented by a raven, but she definitely did not want to be in Hufflepuff.

They left the shop with Avery's new spellbooks and were directed towards another, which had a sign overhead that read "Ollivander's". They stepped inside and Avery inhaled a lot of musky smells, and she looked curiously around. It almost looked like a library, only instead of books the shelves were lined with narrow boxes.

Avery was introduced to a small old man with large, shining eyes. Like Madam Malkin, he too had a magical tape measure, which took some peculiar measurements that seemed useless to Avery but must have been important somehow, because Mr. Ollivander began to scurry towards a shelf and pulled out one of his boxes.

"Core of Dragon Heartsring, Oak, 11 inches. Firm. Give it a wave."

Avery swished the wand, excitedly waiting for something to happen, but it was snatched away quickly. Mr. Ollivander shook his head.

"No good, try this one."

Avery had only touched it when a large "bang!" exploded from the tip, knocking over a careful pile of wands. It too was returned to the box it came from.

Wand after wand either turned out useless or destructive, and Avery was beginning to feel like wand shopping was just as tedious as looking for clothes.

"Try this one, Miss. Liddell. Blackthorn, unicorn hair, 12 inches. Swishy."

Avery grasped the smooth handle of her wand, and felt a warm tingle of excitement. She gave the wand a graceful flick, and colorful sparks flew from the end in a beautiful display that looked like tiny fireworks. Mr. Ollivander looked proud of himself, and Prof. Burbage exclaimed a "congratulations!" John looked relieved that they had found something at last.

"Very well done, well done miss..." Mr. Ollivander turned to John now, asking for his payment. As they left the shop together, Avery continued to stare at her new wand in adoration. It was slender and dark, like a proper wand should be. Her smile was glued to her face.

Evening was fast approaching. Prof. Burbage took them home with the same popping sensation that had brought them to Diagon Alley, and went over some last details with Avery's parents. After she had left, Avery gleefully showed her mom the things she bought from the magical shops of Diagon Alley. She excitedly retold the events of the day, before being sent to her room so her parents could talk about how much the things had cost them. Avery obliged, feeling glad to be alone with her new things. They still felt exotic, and she felt a surge of pride each time she glanced at her wand and cauldron. Boots managed to crawl inside the cauldron to inspect it herself, before curling up for a snooze. Avery was wide awake, however, and poured over her books late into the night.

Things were going to change for her.


	4. 3 A Ride With Strangers

3. A Ride With Strangers

It was hard to fall asleep during the last night of August. The excitement was like waiting for Christmas. Avery's trunk was already packed, and she found it hard to keep herself from checking it every 10 minutes to admire how everything looked crammed inside. It was still hard to believe she had a trunk full of magical objects. When Avery finally fell asleep, it wasn't for long; few hours later and she heard her mother shout through the door to wake her up.

Rather than groan to herself, Avery woke up in an instant. At last! Her heart thumped, and a thrill rushed through her veins and pushed her out of bed. She quickly got dressed and did her best to untangle her hair before coming down the stairs. Her mom was making bacon and eggs, clearly wanting to make her daughter's last morning at home special. Avery ate her breakfast contentedly, seeing that clearly today was going to be a good day.

Her sister was much more difficult to manage. She threw a fit upon waking up, and only calmed down to the offer of cooked food. Avery's sister ate bacon, toast, fried eggs, a banana, and cornflakes, with both a glass of orange juice and milk. It was a "commercial breakfast", as Avery liked to put it, that advertisers showed on tv when trying to market a cereal.

After breakfast, the car was loaded with Avery's trunk and a cage for Boots. Boots looked gloomily at Avery from behind her bars, and meowed. She had a soft blanket, a jingly ball, and some food, which Avery's mom said was enough.

"I'm sorry, but it's gonna be a long trip." Avery tried to reason. Boots twitched her ears and ignored reasoning.

After an hour they got into the car themselves and were on their way.

They arrived shortly to King's Cross, a large train station in London. Avery's mother had nearly thrown a fit at John for losing the ticket before remembering it was in her purse. They approached someone nearby, and asked which way was Platform 9 ¾. After a few tries and some very odd looks, Avery's mother was becoming furious.

"This hoax has cost us a fortune!" She fumed. "That _woman_ said that the entry way for students was between platforms 9 and 10, but it's just a wall!" She yelled at John, as though it were somehow his fault.

Avery began to feel sick, and regretted eating her breakfast. Of course this would happen. Her mom always panicked about everything, and it was going to ruin her day, or maybe her year. What if they didn't find the train in time? Would she have to go back to normal school? Would another witch or wizard show up? What if they wouldn't let her in because she couldn't find the platform?

She stared hard at the wall, as if staring at it enough would magically summon a door. Then- just as she was about to give up- she saw a pair of people emerge from the wall itself, both adults with long cloaks. They beckoned a child towards them.

"C'mon, don't fall behind like that!"

"Sorry mum."

The family ran towards the wall again, but before they could collide with the brick, they vanished.

Avery blinked, astonished.

"Mom!" She said excitedly. "I think you have to run through it!"

Her mom stared at her as if she were insane. "Don't run into walls!" She snapped.

"But I just saw this other guy do it!"

Avery began pushing her cart towards the wall. Her mother protested for her to stop, but it was too late. Avery saw the scene change as she charged forward, and stopped abruptly when she saw a large scarlet steam engine stationed where there was once only stone. Hundreds of people were boarding, saying last goodbyes, and greeting friends after the summer holiday. It looked as if it were more packed than the regular Muggle station.

Avery's family came in next, and anger was forgotten once they realized where they were.

"Oh my! The train looks beautiful!" Her mother exclaimed, gasping at the Hogwarts Express.

John took Avery's trunk on board for her, and she hugged her parents goodbye. She gave a small reluctant hug to her sister, and put up with a sloppy kiss to please her mother.

"Write to us!" Her mother reminded her. Avery promised to write often, then got on board to look for a compartment.

She found one that was empty, and stowed her trunk under the seat, since it was too heavy for her to place ahead. She changed into her robes right away, excited to finally get to wear them. Finally, she was here, after all the sleepless nights of wondering, she was on her way to Hogwarts!

Avery sat in a corner by the window, watching the people still boarding. She was suddenly gripped with anxiety. What if everyone at Hogwarts was a jerk? Would she miss her family? Was the homework going to be hard? Where would she sleep? Who would she sleep with, or would she get her own room?

The train started moving. Avery had a sudden desire to jump out the window and go back home, to where she knew what to expect and to learn what was familiar. She got a hold of herself. This would be what she would learn to expect, and this would be what was familiar from now on. Still, the thought was scary, as all new things tend to be.

Avery spent the first few minutes alone. The compartment slid open, and a girl with black hair peeked inside.

She looked at Avery, as if examining her, then slowly walked inside to take a seat as far away from her as possible. She stored her belongings under her seat as well, and sat in silence. Avery watched her curiously.

"My name's Avery." She said, figuring she might as well try to say something. The girl looked up, seemingly surprised.

"Oh. I'm Carly." Carly was inspecting her again. "Are you a new student too?"

"Yeah!" Avery brightened. "I can't wait to get to Hogwarts!"

"I can." Carly shrugged. "I can wait for anything."

Avery was a little startled by Carly's apathetic attitude. How could anyone not be excited to learn magic?

"Oh... I can't, I guess." Avery said carefully. "Are you from a wizard family?"  
>"No, my parents are both normal. I hate them."<p>

"Ah." Avery began to feel uncomfortable.

Carly pulled out her wand and laid it on her lap.

"It's not black." She said, disappointed. "But it has a dragon core. I'm glad." She didn't sound very glad to Avery, but wore a small smile.

The compartment opened again, and this time a girl with brunette hair walked in. She sat down across from Avery, saying hi to both of them before putting on a pair of headphones. She began to listen to a walkman.

"I thought those didn't work at Hogwarts." Carly commented.

"They don't?"

"No, the magic shuts them off or something. Maybe it works since we're only on the train."

"Oh." Avery suddenly felt homesick. Her Gameboy Color wasn't going to work at school. "What else do you know?"

"Not much, really. I just heard some girl saying it." Carly twirled her wand in her fingers. "Do you know much about the houses?"

"Er... not really... I know their names and stuff..."

"The man who came to my house explained them to me." Carly went on, after Avery seemed to trail off to nothing. "Slytherin sounds the coolest. I love snakes."

"Oh? I like lions."

Carly shrugged again. "Eh, lions are cool. But I don't think I want to be a Gryffindor. They sound like preps."

Avery kept her mouth closed. She didn't want this hostile girl to think she was something awful.

"But Slytherins seem dark, like me. I hate everything, I think. I'm a pretty mean person sometimes."

"Uh-huh."

"So you want to be a Gryffindor?"

"Er..." Avery was changing her mind. She didn't want to be an enemy to someone so soon. "Slytherin sounds cool... but this lady told me I'd be in Ravenclaw..."

"Oh, Ravenclaw might be nice." Carly said. "But I'd rather be in Slytherin.

The trip went on a little longer, when the brunette across Avery decided to take off her headphones.

"Hey." She said quietly.

"Hi, my name's Avery!" Avery said cheerfully. "Are you a first year?"

"Yeah." The girl brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "My name's Dev."

"Hi Dev, I'm Carly." Carly turned to face the other two girls now. "What were you listening to?"

"Evanescence."

"Oh, I love them." Carly said, but it didn't sound enthusiastic.

"It's dead now though." Dev sighed, laying her walkman aside. "What were you guys talking about?"

"Houses." Avery said quickly.

"Oh!" Dev seemed to perk up a little. "I want to be in Slytherin!"

_Join the club._ Avery thought.

"Me too!" Carly sounded cheerful for once.

Dev smiled. "Most people don't think I'm a Slytherin, but I want to prove to them that I'm full of surprises."

"Well, I know I'm a Slytherin." Carly insisted. "What else could I be? I'm not very smart... or nice... and I hate Gryffindors. If I get in Gryffindor, I'll kill myself."

Avery wondered if she was serious. It was uncomfortable.

"What else do you like, besides Evanescence?" Avery asked Dev, trying to change the topic to something that wouldn't be morbid.

"I like to draw." Dev replied.

"Me too!" Carly looked content again. "I'm the best artist at my old school."

"Oh... I like to draw too." Avery didn't admit she only drew cats and Pokemon.

"I'm probably not very good." Dev admitted. "But I can show you." She pulled out a scroll of parchment from her trunk, and began to draw something. Then Carly drew something, and last Avery. Dev's picture looked the best, Avery thought. And Carly's drawing was an oversized head. As for herself, Avery was a little proud of her cartoon of a cat.

It felt like she was finally bonding with some other first years. The hours slipped by as the three girls talked about their lives at home, music, and things like Muggle television. They were interrupted by a group of boys, who strode into their compartment like they owned it.

"Oh, wrong compartment." Drawled a boy with a pale pointed face. His hair was almost white blond and his eyes were cold and gray. They looked down on the girls in a condescending manner. "We're looking for Harry Potter, rumor has it he's on the train this year."

Dev was the only one to look shocked. Carly continued to look apathetic, and Avery was only confused. She thought she heard that name before.

"Harry Potter is going to Hogwarts?" Dev asked excitedly.

"Apparently, that's what I just said." The boy sneered. He caught glimpse of their parchment and smirked. "What's that?" He asked, pointing a long pale finger at the random drawings.

"Pictures. We drew them." Avery said, mistaking the boy's question as sincere. He laughed.

"You call those things pictures? A house elf could draw better." He said cruelly. "Anyway, I'm not going to stick around, I've got better things to worry about than the poor artistic talent of a bunch of girls. C'mon Crabbe, Goyle." The boy turned, and his two companions accompanied him out to look for Harry Potter. Avery looked at Dev, who still seemed surprised.

"Um, who's Harry Potter?" She asked. Dev gasped.

"You don't know who Harry Potter is?"

"No..."

"Well... I can't believe... were you raised by Muggles?"

"Kind of, yeah."

"It happened a long time ago. There was this dark wizard, who was taking over our world..." Dev launched into a story that took up a good portion of the train ride. It was about how this dark wizard caused terror and took hundreds of lives, only to be defeated by a baby boy named Harry Potter. No one knew how it was possible, but a killing curse had reflected off of his forehead leaving only a scar, while blasting the wizard who cast it into smithereens. This boy was a hero to the entire wizarding community, and now Avery could see why someone would be looking for him.

"Huh." Carly had been listening intently too. "Eh, who cares?"

Dev looked like she had been slapped. "Who cares? It was the most important moment of modern history! We'd be slaves of You-Know-Who right now if it wasn't for him!"

Carly sighed. "I don't care. Maybe I want everyone I know to die."

Dev and Avery sat in equally awkward silence.

The sky outside the window was becoming dark, which must have meant they were reaching the school. Avery's heart began to flutter again, forgetting the gloominess of her travel companion. The moment was finally arriving. She'd get to see her school!

"We're almost there, I think." Dev confirmed. "My dad told me we'd get there in time for dinner."

Avery paced around their compartment impatiently. They were so close! When the train finally stopped, she had to push and squeeze her way past other clamoring students to get outside. Once they all got outside, Avery would be amazed with what she saw.


	5. 4 Sorting Hat's Judgement

**Thank you for the kind words of support! It's exhilarating to know that other people besides myself and my friends are also into our adventure to Hogwarts! Especially the ones who left reviews, your feedback is delightful to read! I'll be very excited to tell you more of our stories.**

**This is the sorting chapter, and yesterday I received my Pottermore welcome email and got to beta-test the site. That means that I, along with the real Dev and Carly, have each been sorted officially and given our official wands. I'll have to edit the second chapter to accommodate my real wand (Hawthorn, Dragon Heart-sting, 13 ¼ inches, Unyielding!), and this chapter will sort us into our official Pottermore houses. You'll be surprised when you see who goes where, I think.**

**If you have a Pottermore account or intend to register in October, remember to add me! My username is PumpkinHawthorn196. Feel free to send a review or PM with your username.**

4. Sorting Hat's Judgement

"Firs' years! Firs' years this way! C'mon! Fir' years! Firs' years with me!"

Avery was startled by a man's loud, booming voice. Her head swiveled and her eyes grew wide when she saw the most massive man she'd ever seen. He looked wild, with a large mane of tangled hair and beard, and his hands and feet were wider than the circumference of her body. However, he was not as intimidating as he should have been for his size, and Avery was surprised that she was not afraid to approach him with the rest of the timid first years.

"Alrigh', you lot. This way!"

The large man led the first years away from the rest of the students, and they saw a large black lake with dozens of little boats waiting for them to board. However, the lake was not the most impressive part of the landscape, as many of the students gasped at the sight of a large, magnificent castle that towered over them proudly. Avery felt dizzy just looking at it. So this castle was going to be her school! This was the luckiest day of her life!

They clamored onto the boats, which were four to a person. Avery spotted Dev and Carly already in a boat, and hurriedly joined them before someone else took the spot. She scooted closer to Dev, who smiled kindly at her. They were joined by a dark-skinned boy with dark hair, who introduced himself as Mike. He looked positively thrilled, and as the boats began to move he exclaimed his delight and impending excitement. Carly looked uninterested in him and stared out intently at the lake, while Dev engaged a conversation with Mike about the sorting ceremony. Avery sat uprightly, enjoying the night breeze that blew through her hair, and inhaling large gulps of the fresh, cool air. It felt good to be here at last, but there was one last thing to get over with. What house would she be in, and would she ever see her new friends again?

The boats went through what looked like a tunnel under the school, and docked somewhere close to the entrance. The large man, who had taken an entire boat to himself, led the children to what Avery assumed was the entrance of the school, and she felt relief to finally see a familiar face. Prof. McGonagall looked stern and proper in her dark green robes, and it was she who went over the initial welcome to the school.

Avery stayed close to her small circle of friends, as McGonagall explained some basic rules and the concept of earning House Points. The thought of a school competition that she could take part in excited Avery, and a sense of duty and responsibility seemed to bubble up inside her. Whatever house she was chosen for, she would serve with all her willpower!

Finally, McGonagall left the students to prepare themselves for the ceremony, when Avery was struck with another thought. Who was sorting them? Would McGonagall ask them each a few questions, then tell them which house they belonged to? A bushy-haired girl nearby was talking about spells she had learned to demonstrate, and Avery began to panic. She had never practiced magic, and if the test was based on performance, she would probably have to be sent straight home! Other students looked as equally nervous, and she noticed one boy in particular try to pat down his messy black hair, only for it to pop up again. Avery tried to do the same, but was equally unsuccessful. Far too soon, McGonagall returned and led them to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was so huge, Avery's entire house could fit in it at least four times. There was no visible ceiling, and Avery strained her neck backwards to look at the glittering stars overhead. Hundreds of candles floated in mid-air, adding to the rich atmosphere of enchantments and mystery. Banners for the four houses lined the walls, and Avery scanned the room of hundreds of older students, each sitting at a long table and wearing their dark robes and hats. They must have been divided by their house, but Avery couldn't see how the tables were distinguishable from one another.

The students were gathered along one end of the room, where the entire school could stare at them. Avery felt a hot blush creep over her body, as she became increasingly self-aware. Somewhere in front of her, she could see the blond boy from the train looking smug and confident. She wished she was as assured as he was.

There was a stool, and an old hat was placed upon it, and suddenly all attention shifted from the first years to this mangy hat. Avery tried to get a good look, but at first she couldn't see what was so special about it. Suddenly, a rip near the brim opened like a mouth, and the hat did something incredible. It could sing! It sang a song about the founders of the school, which Avery noticed where the namesakes of each house. So, the hat would decide where they went! That shouldn't be hard.

"When I call your name, I want you to put the hat on your head." McGonagall informed the nervous group of students. "Then you are to take your seat at your house table. Abbott, Hannah."

Avery watched with the rest of the first years, as Hannah walked up to the stool and put on the hat. After a short while, the hat proclaimed, "Hufflepuff!", and a table burst into applause. Hannah removed the hat and took a seat with them, and Avery felt relieved. Not hard at all!

Students were called up alphabetically. When they reached the L's, Avery realized that none of her friends had been sorted yet, and realized she was likely to be the first one sorted.

"Liddell, Avery!"

Avery suddenly felt frozen to where she stood. Hesitantly, she walked forward, keeping her eyes focused on McGonagall the entire way there. Other first years parted to let her through, some glad it wasn't their turn yet. When Avery stepped out from the safety of the crowd, she felt exposed and shook a little from stage fright.

The school watched as she sat carefully on the stool, nearly missing and falling over. Once she felt secure, she put the hat on, and it slipped right past her eyes and concealed her vision with darkness. Now, there was no audience for Avery to worry about. It was only her, and the hat.

"Hm." She heard a voice inside her head. "Aren't you an interesting case?"

"What?" Avery thought, suddenly paranoid.

"Your life hasn't been very normal up to now, no it hasn't." The hat continued. Her paranoia grew. "Oh, don't be like that." The hat noticed her anxiety. "I'm not one to judge... well, I am, but I've seen much worse."

"So... what do you think?" Avery asked internally, since the hat could clearly hear her thoughts. She wanted the hat to hurry this up, because having her memories invaded was uncomfortable.

"Well, like I said, it's very interesting." The hat said slowly. "Your life has been full of unusual challenges and struggles. And the way you've responded has a lot to say about you."

"Okay... so what do my actions say about me?"

"You have shown bravery every day, and are certainly strong enough to be in Gryffindor." The hat remarked. "You have also retreated to books and learning during times of turmoil, so you'd also do quite well in Ravenclaw."

"I've heard that from other people." Avery mentioned.

"Yes, yes, and you're also very loyal and kind... not a bad Hufflepuff either."

"Please don't put me in there." Avery thought. "I hate yellow."

"And a little bit of vanity, eh? Well... I see so much more in you. I see your resentment, Avery Liddell, and I see a darkness inside of your heart that you try so hard to hide." He seemed interested in this, as he continued, "You desire to prove yourself superior to those around you, to aim higher goals than they have for themselves, to force people to notice you, and you want to hurt the ones who hurt you the most."

"Er.." Avery suddenly felt like the hat had told her she was a bad person. "But, you said I was kind..."

"You do not desire ill towards the world, Liddell." The hat explained. "But towards those who have made you suffer. It is generally against your nature to be cruel."

"Alright then... so where do I belong?"

"Let's see..." The hat was quiet for a moment. "I am finding it hard to place you between Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

"Well..." Avery remembered her friends, and how they had all wanted to be in Slytherin. Perhaps she should go there too, so she wouldn't be alone...

Then, before she could make up her mind, the hat made it for her.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherins clapped proudly, as Avery quickly took off the hat and scurried over to her new table. She was glad her part was over, and took an empty seat next to a few older girls. Now, she would wait for Dev and Carly to be sorted with her.

The list of students went on. After a few more students, Carly's name was called up, and she walked with a slouch towards the hat. Avery watched intently, her heart thumping wildly. After what seemed like a long time, the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

Avery felt her heart sink. Carly's face was in total shock, and she took a lingering glance at the Slytherin table before slowly slinking to where the Ravenclaws sat. Avery felt just as bewildered, and suddenly afraid. What if she were in the wrong house? Were all of her friends going to be separated?

Avery watched as Mike was also declared a Ravenclaw, and suddenly felt as though she were in the wrong place.

"Malfoy, Draco."

The blond boy swaggered proudly to the sorting hat, and it had barely touched his head when it announced, "SLYTHERIN!". Avery groaned. So far, her only recognizable housemate was the bully on the train. Draco ignored her as he went to sit with some excited Slytherins, and Avery could only hope for Dev to come and sit by her.

However, before Dev's name could be called, another familiar name was called forward.

"Potter, Harry."

Everyone went dead silent. Suddenly, tension filled the Great Hall, as every pair of eyes focused on the young boy who now had to walk in front of the school. He was the messy-haired kid from before, Avery noticed. He looked absolutely nervous, as he took his seat on the stool, and the hat was placed on his head. No one made a sound for five minutes, as the hat contemplated what house to sort him in. At long last, the hat cried, "GRYFFINDOR!", and the most deafening thunder of applause erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry Potter looked much more at ease, and hurried to sit next to a group of red heads, who thumped him proudly on the back. After the noise died down, McGonagall was able to continue with the ceremony.

Avery grew more and more uneasy as the ceremony dragged on. After several more children had been sorted, it was finally Dev's turn. She tried to look calm as she approached the stool, and it took the hat about three minutes to decide her house. Avery held her breath. She dared not breathe...

"SLYTHERIN!"

Dev smiled widely, and hurried to the Slytherin table with a glow of pride. The other Slytherins were cheering, and Avery waved her over gleefully. Dev slipped next to her, and the two high-fived. Now, Avery could finally relax.

"We're both in Slytherin!" Dev exclaimed. "Have you seen that Carly girl anywhere?"

"She got in Ravenclaw."

Dev laughed. "Ha! I bet she's complaining to everyone at her table."

"Most likely." Avery agreed. She couldn't imagine how it had turned out that of all of them, Carly was the only one to not make it into Slytherin. It was also hard to see why she and Dev were Slytherins instead. Avery didn't think she was as ruthless as Slytherins were reputation to be, and Dev had seemed very friendly...

There was only a handful of students left. The last student was Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin. After the last round of applause, the headmaster stood up. He was a very old man, with a long silvery beard that tucked into his belt, with half-moon spectacles. His presence commanded an instant quiet, and he gave a small speech.

"The Forbidden Forest is, of course, forbidden." He announced. "And our caretaker, Argus Filch, would like to remind students of what items are banned this year..."

Avery zoned out a bit, suddenly remembering her hunger. It had been a long time since she'd eaten, and now that the most nerve-wracking part of the night was over, her stomach had loosened up and demanded to be fed.

"Also, I would like to warn the students that the third floor corridor is forbidden."

She wondered how much of this she would remember in the morning.

After the speech was finally over, their plates filled themselves with food before their eyes. Avery was suddenly very excited again. Everything looked delicious, and she helped herself to many platefuls of food. Her goblet was filled with a sweet orange liquid that Dev identified as pumpkin juice, which Avery thought was good as well. After the initial feast, the plates replaced their meals with desserts, which Avery found surprisingly a lot of room for.

Her belly was now warm and stuffed. She stretched, a yawn escaped her, and she looked around curiously at the Great Hall and the other students. Many of them looked like they were getting sleepy. Dev was trying not to lean against her.

The plates were cleared. Prefects were given the task of showing the first years to their dormitories, and Avery caught a Slytherin boy and girl calling for the "Slytherin first years, come with us!".

She and Dev followed the other first years to form a crowd behind them, and they were led out of the Great Hall. Avery admired the great marble staircase, but they were instead directed into a corridor away from it. There was a stone staircase that spiraled downward, and Avery carefully made her way down while trying hard not to clumsily step on anyone's foot. She messed up once and stepped on Draco Malfoy, who shouted a loud protest that made Avery blush with embarrassment. They finally reached the bottom, and were led down a long path that ended with a stone wall.

"What is this?" A girl cried out in bewilderment, "Don't you remember where the common room is?"

"Of course we do!" The prefect boy snapped. "This is the entryway to the Slytherin common room, but it only reveals itself if you know the password. He turned to face the wall now, and smugly said, "Dragon blood."

A door emerged in the wall, and slid open. The Slytherins pushed themselves inside, some fighting past others to reach the common room first. Avery tried to carefully avoid being squashed, and they were led into an exquisite room full of green leather furniture. Avery looked around, beaming, feeling pleased with her new living arrangements.

"Girls dormitories on the right." The girl prefect shouted. "Boys, on the left. Your rooms are marked 'first years'. Your things should already be there."

Avery and Dev followed a small group of girls to their dormitory, and found the room marked for them. It was cast in a green light, with windows that showed an aquarium of fish.

"It's the lake!" A black-haired girl exclaimed. "I wonder if we'll see the giant squid..."

Avery plopped lazily into her new bed, enjoying how soft it felt compared to her bed at home. It felt thrilling to share a room with so many girls, to have fish swim past her, and to be close to someone who she had already hit it off with. She felt proud to be a Slytherin now.

"Goodnight, Avery." Dev said, before drawing the curtains around her bed. Avery did the same, and took off her robes and changed into something more comfortable. She got out of bed to put her clothes away, and saw that Boots had been let out of her cage already and was curled up in her cauldron.

"C'mon, Boots." Avery scooped the cat up and brought her to bed. Boots snuggled close to her with a warm purr, and Avery sighed happily before closing her eyes and drifting to sleep.


	6. 5 A Bond is Made

5. A Bond is Made

When Avery awoke, she sat up immediately in a confused shock. After a split second, she remembered the ceremony from last night and relaxed. For a moment the foreign surroundings had startled her, but now she pulled herself together and was able to take in her surroundings. The sheets and draperies were made of silk, which had been extremely nice to sleep in. She slipped across them and touched her feet to the floor, being careful not to make too much noise. There were around five or so other girls in this dorm, all still fast asleep. Avery dressed into her robes and walked out to the common room, which appeared brighter than it had before. It took awhile for Avery to notice that the difference was that a fireplace had been lit, and she wandered towards it and sat against a tall chair to watch the flames.

Today was Sunday, and classes didn't start until tomorrow. All the better, Avery thought, to get used to the school's layout. It would have been useful to have a map, because Avery wasn't very good at remembering her way around. Hogwarts was going to make her lost very easily.

After a few moments, other Slytherins began to creep into the common room as well, most of them chatting to their friends and catching up. These were older students, and Avery was intimidated by their experience and overall rank. She didn't speak a word to any of them and instead shrank into her chair, hoping that no one would notice her sitting there. The common room seemed loud and huge to her after spending so much time in the quiet.

"Look what we have here, boys. A Mudblood, in Slytherin house."

Avery turned her head and peeked to see who had spoken. It was Malfoy, followed by his two larger friends. She was going to regret being sorted into Slytherin as long as he was there.

"A Mudblood?" Avery didn't think it was a nice term, even though she had to admit she didn't know what it meant.

"Hear that? Doesn't even know what a Mudblood is. They really are stupid." Malfoy paused to let the two other boys guffaw. "Means your blood's dirty. Both your parents are Muggles, aren't they? It's a disgrace that Dumbledore lets your kind into Hogwarts, but to let you into our common room, no less..."

"Dumbledore didn't sort me." Avery said firmly, "The hat did."

Malfoy glared at her. "Don't you _dare_ interrupt me," he hissed, "I can have you expelled, you know. My father works for the school council. I should write to him about you, I'm sure he'd be just as displeased about you being here as I am..."

Avery shrunk back farther. "Sorry..." She muttered. Malfoy sneered.

"You ought to be. C'mon, Crabbe, Goyle. I don't want to be tainted by the air this Mudblood breathes."

Crabbe and Goyle followed their leader obediently, and the trio left the common room to head to the Great Hall. Avery felt a few tears burning to come up, and hid her face in shame. She wished she could have lunged at that smug boy and taught him a thing or two, wand unnecessary. A few tears slid out, and she cursed herself for letting him win.

A soft hand cupped Avery's shoulder, and she tensed up.

"Are you okay?" It was only Dev. Avery looked up and shook her head, but her swollen eyes betrayed her answer. "You look like you've been crying."

Avery sighed. "It's Malfoy... he came up to me... said some mean things. I don't think I belong in here, Dev." She sniffed. "I'm a Mudblood."

Dev's face paled. "What did you just call yourself?"

"A Mudblood." Avery repeated. "That's what Malfoy said."

Dev looked irritated, then composed herself. "That's a really foul word, you shouldn't say it to people, and you shouldn't say it about yourself." She said. "It's a racist term used by Purebloods who think everyone's beneath them."

"Pureblood? You mean... like two magic parents?" Avery straightened up. "I suppose that's what Malfoy is?"

"Yeah, all the Malfoys have been in Slytherin." Dev told her. "They're really into the Dark Arts, too. Supporters of You-Know-Who. My dad would hate for me to be housemates with a Malfoy, but..." She grinned wickedly. "There's nothing he can do about that now."

Avery nodded, and thought about it some more. She couldn't shake the feeling that Slytherin house came with some baggage.

"Dev... um, are Slytherins... well... are Slytherins evil?"

"Not exactly." Dev admitted. "Well, we've had dark wizards... even You-Know-Who was a Slytherin, but we've had some good wizards too! Merlin was a Slytherin, and everyone seems to forget that. We're just... we're ambitious, we like to prove ourselves as powerful and intelligent, and we'll do it with any means necessary. I think that's why we Slytherins have to sleep in the dungeons... it reminds us to strive for what's on top."

Avery felt a swell of pride by her friend's statement. "So, I'm not a bad person?"

"No, I don't think so." Dev said. "Want to get something to eat?"

"Yeah." Avery got up. She didn't want to tell Dev about her other feelings just yet. She didn't want Dev to change her mind about her, once she found out the resentment she felt towards her sister. Avery had a suspicion that it was this resentful feeling that had landed her in Slytherin. For now, she would have to hope that the hat had seen something more in her than just that.

Breakfast was laid out just as lavishly as the feast had been. There were plates full of eggs: fried, scrambled, and hard boiled. There were plates of sausage and bacon, with pieces of toast already buttered. Jugs of juice and milk let you have one or both, and Avery helped herself to some bacon and eggs while Dev scowled at the jugs. Avery wasn't sure she wanted to ask why.

Then, Dev said it. "This is an outrage!"

"Err, what?"

"These jugs!" Dev pointed an accusing finger at them. "They give us too many options!"

"...so?"

"Well!" Dev huffed. "People should pick one or the other! You can't have both, do you hear me? You. Can't. Have. Both!"

Avery could feel Malfoy and his gang staring at them oddly. She became incredibly embarrassed, but Dev continued to rant about the milk and juice so that it was actually pretty amusing. Malfoy was sniggering at them, and Avery wished she could throw a jug of milk onto his slicked back hair...

"Hello." A sulky voice said. Avery turned around to see that Carly was standing behind her, eying their table. She wore her blue Ravenclaw attire, and couldn't appear more displeased. "Mind if I sit down?"

"You can't!" A Slytherin protested, but Carly said a rude word to them and sat down anyway. She didn't touch a thing.

"I hate being a Ravenclaw." Carly began, "It's too high up. I'm afraid I'll fall out of a window. And the door keeps asking stupid questions, and I'm not smart enough to answer them. I don't belong here." She sighed. "I think the hat sorted me wrong, don't you think? I'd be a much better Slytherin."

"The sorting hat is never wrong." Dev replied. Carly scowled.

"I don't care what your opinion is!" She shouted. "I think the stupid hat is wrong, and I'm not a Ravenclaw! I don't feel like a Ravenclaw! I know I'm a Slytherin, and you can SHUT UP."

She sat up suddenly, still looking furious. Avery was suddenly very afraid of such a small girl.

"I'll get into Slytherin." Carly promised, and she left. Slytherins booed her away, laughing when she shouted another obscenity at them.

"Is that a friend of yours?" Malfoy asked from across the table. "She's a real charmer, just like you!" Some of his friends began to laugh. Avery turned her back to them and instead focused on Dev.

"I hope she really does fall out of that tower." Dev growled. "Who does she think she is?"

"Can the sorting hat re-sort people?" Avery asked, wondering if there was any chance that Carly would really change houses. Dev shook her head.

"No, it always stands firmly by its decision." She reassured her. "I bet she's just mad because she's jealous."

"Well, she was always like that..." Avery reminded her. "Err... you don't suppose it's something wrong?"

"Maybe." Dev shrugged and resumed eating some toast. "Whatever it is, it's annoying."

Avery agreed and they finished breakfast. There were lists being passed around, and the girls took theirs and read through them. They were schedules.

"Look..." Dev groaned, "we have Charms with the Ravenclaws... I bet Carly will be a real treat... Potions with Gryffindors, and Herbology with Ravenclaws again... Transfiguration with Hufflepuffs... History of Magic is with Hufflepuffs too... Defense Against the Dark Arts is with Gryffindors... and Flying looks like a mixed class..." She sighed. "Well, won't this be fun? Let's go try and find the classrooms."

They explored the castle together, thinking that sticking in a pair would make them less likely to get lost. Unfortunately, Dev had been following Avery, and Avery had no idea where she was going, and often led them places they shouldn't go. More than twice Dev had to remind Avery that the corridor she was trying to go to was on the third floor, and they'd turn around and try a different way. The castle was confusing, with staircases that couldn't stay put, and her first experience on one that moved made Avery scream and caused a lot of people to snigger at her. "First years..." Some of them would say, and walk away.

Avery was very tired by lunchtime, after all her walking around aimlessly. They had found a few classrooms and had both been spooked by the Bloody Baron, who merely floated past them without noticing either one of them scream. Now they took their seats in the Great Hall, and helped themselves to pieces of chicken.

Carly did not show up at all, which Dev insisted was a good thing, but Avery was worried that she must have gotten lost somewhere.

"Don't worry about it." Dev said, looking happy. "We made it out okay, she's not gonna go somewhere and get stuck."

"But what if she went into the third floor corridor?" Avery asked. Dev didn't look concerned.

"There's probably an enchantment to repel students that try to sneak by too far." She said calmly. "Hogwarts is perfectly safe."

Avery felt better.

After lunch they went outside to the grounds, and walked to the Quidditch pitch. Dev explained the rules to Avery as best she could, but Avery was never good at following sports. Still, it made her curious to see a game that was played on broomsticks.

"It's really fun." Dev concluded. "Hey, maybe next year you and me should try out together!"

"Umm... no thanks." Avery replied nervously. She was dreadful at Muggle games, how much better could she expect to be at a wizard one?

"Aw, c'mon!"

"I'm not very good at sports." Avery admitted. Dev gently shook her.

"I'll make you good! I promise! Please say you'll at least try!"

"Alright..." Avery sighed. "But only if I'm any good at flying..."

"Okay!" Dev sounded pleased.

They left the Quidditch pitch and went to the lake instead, where some other students were skipping stones and being splashed by the giant squid. Avery felt peaceful when she was near water, so she sat near enough to watch the light dance across the rippling water.

"I like it here, Dev." Avery said, feeling very comfortable now. "I don't want to go home."

"Same." Dev agreed. "I guess I'll miss my mom, but my dad... no."

"How come?" Avery asked.

"Well... he's the wizard in my family. My mom's a Muggle. But my dad had his wand snapped a long time ago." She sighed. "He's an idiot, but he always wants me near him. It's annoying and I can't stand it most of the time, you know?"

"Yeah." Avery could sort of relate. "My mom doesn't like to let me go places, or leave the house. But she wants me to stay home so I can help take care of my... sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister." Dev said, surprised. "How old is she?"

"Older than me." Avery said glumly. "But mentally, she's a small child. A small, bratty, violent child." Her expression turned sour. "I know I shouldn't feel this way about her, because it's not her fault... but I hate her, Dev. I'm an awful person that really hates their sister." Now Dev would know why the hat had placed her in Slytherin.

Dev looked thoughtful. "I don't think that makes you an awful person." She said. "I think you have a reason not to like her. Does she hit you?"

Avery nodded. "Sometimes... and... she does worse..." She shuddered. "She bit my step-dad once, so hard, it went through his sweater and ripped out a piece of skin. I would hide in my room so she couldn't reach me, but sometimes she'd manage to climb the stairs on her hands and knees, and she'd pound the door to try and get me. There are cracks, I used to have to sit against them, and I'd wonder if the door would break..." She could go on, but stopped there. Best not get carried away.

Dev looked deeply shocked. "I'm sorry..." She said, looking truthful. She put her arms around Avery and hugged her. Avery hugged her back, relieved to be far away from that now, with someone she could finally talk to, who didn't hold her feelings against her.

"I'm sorry about you, too." Avery added, when they broke apart. "I don't like my dad much either... he's mean."

"Your step-dad?"

"No, my real one." Avery explained. "My parents got divorced when I was a baby. My dad was a real idiot, my mom told me all kinds of things he used to do... I don't see him much, but when I do he's really weird. He treats me like a baby sometimes, and other times he gets mad at me because I don't act grown up enough. Everyone else on his side of the family is great, but he's just... I guess he's still mad at my mom about things. I don't think he wanted a kid."

Dev listened to Avery intently, which made Avery uncomfortable at first because normally she never talked to anyone. But when she told her problems to Dev, everything suddenly felt lighter, and Dev would make her feel better by making her laugh. Avery had never felt this before, and wondered if she had been missing this kind of friendship at her old school.

Friendship, Avery would learn someday, was in fact one of the strongest kinds of magic in the world.


	7. 6 Carly's Bitterness

**Dev would like you all to know that it is, in fact, OKAY to have juice OR milk, because not everyone likes the same thing. Or maybe, you can have milk, and upon deciding you are still are thirsty, you may get some juice if you put it in the same glass. However, she stresses that having juice AND milk AT THE SAME TIME is beastly, immoral, and just plain wrong. Do not make her go looking for you.**

Carly's Bitterness

Monday came soon enough. Avery had to wake Dev up so they could hurry to breakfast before their first classes started. She was extremely excited to get busy. Her wand was snug in her robes and her bag was filled with parchment and ink, prepared for anything that learning magic required. The first class of the week was Transfiguration, so they filed into the classroom with the Hufflepuffs. They were a much friendlier looking bunch, Avery thought. Maybe being a Hufflepuff and having to wear yellow would have been better than dealing with Malfoy.

Prof. McGonagall was no where to be seen. Avery looked around the room, wondering where she would come in, when she noticed a cat sitting stiffly on the front desk. The cat looked oddly familiar, when Avery smiled knowingly and nudged Dev.

"It's McGonagall." She whispered, gesturing her head towards the cat.

"What, that cat?"

"Yeah, I saw her turn into it before." Avery smiled. She was looking forward to seeing the cat-to-human trick again.

"Wonder where the professor is?" Drawled Malfoy from behind. "Not very professional, is it, to be late to your own class?"

"I hope he keeps complaining." Avery whispered evilly. "He hasn't noticed the cat yet."

The "cat" looked like it was glaring at Malfoy. It leaped from the desk and transformed, now taking the true shape of Prof. McGonagall. She was looking down at Malfoy.

"Not very polite to speak of your professors behind their backs, Mr. Malfoy." She said sternly. Surprisingly, she didn't deduct points, perhaps as a courtesy warning. "Welcome, first years, to Transfiguration. In this class we will be learning the complex art of transfiguring one object into another. What you just saw me demonstrating was in fact a very difficult and advanced piece of transfiguration, which not everyone can accomplish. However, it is my job to teach the fundamentals and basics of the subject, should you ever decide you wish to pursue it further. Now, we will begin immediately."

The morning was spent reading the first chapter of their books, and only until the second half of class did they try to transfigure a beetle into a button. Both Avery and Dev were very squeamish about the beetles, and Avery's button still had legs and scuttled across the desk in a hurry. Right behind them was Malfoy with Crabbe and Goyle, and Malfoy entertained himself by flicking beetles into Avery's hair. Avery screamed and it caused McGonagall to take 5 points from Slytherin, which made both Avery and Malfoy angry. When class was dismissed, Avery waited until Malfoy had already left before following Dev out.

"I want to turn _him_ into a beetle!" Avery fumed. "Then I'd stick him in a jar, and make him sit there all day, with nothing to do but look out the glass and watch me eat sandwiches and stuff."

Dev laughed. "I'd do that with you." She said, grinning. "He needs to be taught a lesson or two."

"And I'd steal all his money," Avery went on, "And buy myself the sandwiches with it."

"That's a good idea, Avery." Dev said, pretending to be amazed. "You're so clever."

"Shut up. They'd be good sandwiches."

"Stop talking about sandwiches, you just ate!"

"Fine, but I wasn't going to do that now... what's next?"

"Charms. Won't this be fun?"

The class was taught by a very tiny professor, who seemed cheerful and nice. Avery was excited when they were each given a feather, and Prof. Flitwick went through the basics of Charms.

"Swish and flick!" He squeaked, "and remember the incantation! _Wingardium Leviosa!_"

Many students began to try and lift their feather, but very few were succeeding. Carly, who had decided to sit next to them, was looking particularly frustrated.

"Nothing ever works for me!" She sighed and put down her wand. "Whatever. I'll take a zero."

"Don't give up, this is fun!" Avery encouraged, waving her wand and continuing to try the spell. Carly sighed.

"Nothing is fun for me." She said. "I just don't care, that's all."

Avery looked worried, but didn't know what to say.

Prof. Flitwick eventually came over to try and encourage Carly as well, while Avery continued to wave her wand and mutter the incantation. After a few tries, she heard Dev exclaim, "whoa!", and looked over to see Dev was successfully making her feather levitate, and beaming.

"You're doing great!" Avery said excitedly.

"Yeah, this is easy!" Dev smiled proudly. "Just flick your wrist, like this..."

Dev showed Avery what she had done, and soon her feather was able to levitate as well. The girls looked proud together. When Carly finally got her feather off the desk, she looked relieved at first, then disinterested as she let it float back down.

"Eh. Not that hard." She decided, and went back to stroking her wand like a pet. Dev stared at her.

"I think I agree with her, she doesn't belong in Ravenclaw." Dev muttered. Avery said nothing, but watched her curiously. Carly sat with a heavy slouch and seemed to ignore them, so Avery went back to making her feather float. She and Dev made a game of bumping the feathers into each other, until Charms was also dismissed and they could leave.

Carly walked closely to Avery and Dev. Dev looked annoyed, but Avery slowed down a little, not wanting to be rude anyway. Carly was looking at her anxiously.

"Do you... do you think they'd yell at me? If I sat with you guys?" Carly asked, trying to be quiet.

"Um..." Avery didn't know, honestly. "I don't think it's a good idea."

Carly scoffed. "Eh, I don't care. They can put me in detention for it, it won't bother me."

"Won't you lose points?" Avery asked, trying to remind Carly of the school's unified goal of at least trying not to fall behind for the house cup. She laughed coldly.

"Like I care about winning." She said, more loudly now. "I'm probably the only person who doesn't, but I think the house cup is stupid and it doesn't really matter if Ravenclaw wins or not. Besides, I don't even like Ravenclaw."

"Well..." Avery said cautiously, "I want to win... and I don't want to get sent home, that's for sure."

"If they send me home, I still wouldn't care. Can you believe that?"

"Yes, actually." Avery said flatly. Carly didn't seem to mind the tone at all.

"I don't see why they should, anyway. It's just tables. In normal school, you can sit wherever you want." She straightened up a little. "I'm not letting anyone boss me around!"

They had to go separate ways after the next staircase, and Dev didn't seem to mind when Carly had to go to the next floor.

"She's such a Muggle, isn't she?" Dev complained. "I bet she really gets whatever she wants at home, and she's mad because it doesn't work like that here."

"She does sound kinda spoiled..." Avery thought Carly reminded her only a little of her sister, who expected everything to happen as she willed it. However, instead of becoming aggressive, Carly only got depressed and moody. Avery decided that having an attitude was at least better than being clobbered.

Next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Prof. Quirell was a nervous, stuttering man with a turban, which Avery truthfully thought looked funny. The first lesson was rather tame, and didn't quite live up to the excitement of Charms or Transfiguration. However, what was really boring was History of Magic, which was so dull that even the novelty of being taught by a ghost couldn't keep the class's attention. Avery completely ignored the lecture and instead doodled on a piece of parchment with Dev, trying not to giggle too loudly at the funny scribbles that they made. Avery drew a circle with an angry face and a tie, and made a speech bubble that said, "I'm a stupid butt!" Dev couldn't keep control of herself, and laughed insanely. Prof. Binns stared at her, and she stifled her laughter, until Avery labeled the circle "Draco Malfoy", when she had another loud fit of giggles.

"Sorry!" Dev gasped. "I uh... had to sneeze..."

Prof. Binns gave her an odd glance. "Well then," He went back into his lecture, and Dev added the circle's body, which was a bigger circle and tiny nub legs. They worked on their masterpiece with devilish glee, and Avery occasionally glanced at Malfoy to make sure he wasn't watching them. Malfoy appeared bored, and once caught Avery looking at him and sneered. Avery spun around, slightly embarrassed, and didn't look again.

Class droned on for a long time, and Avery was glad to go when they were dismissed. She shoved the parchment back into her bag and led Dev to the Great Hall, following the crowd as a guide. It was time for lunch.

"Do you think Carly will sit with us?" Avery asked, as they waited for a staircase to stop moving.

"She better not try, she doesn't know what she's doing." Dev said.

They reached the Great Hall and sat down, and sure enough, Carly came towards them and sat down.

"I'm so sleepy." She announced, sitting down. A Slytherin started to complain when she shouted at them. "Ugh, I just want to go back to bed... I don't want to climb back up to that tower, it's too much."

"I bet." Avery thought about it. She wouldn't want to climb all those stairs, either.

Carly began to poke at some food. "So, where's Slytherin's common room?" She asked casually.

"Oh, it's in the dungeons..."

"No!" Dev interrupted Avery. "You're not switching houses, and you're not coming into the common room! No one has been in our common room for 7 centuries!"

Carly glared at Dev. "I didn't say I was going to!" She shouted back at her. "God, no one ever LISTENS to me! They never let me finish a thing, and they think they know everything! I hate people like you!"

Dev looked positively furious. "I hate stupid whiny spoiled brats like you!" She fumed, "You don't know anything, and you come in here expecting to know how things should be run better than we do..."

"Don't you DARE call me a spoiled brat! I am NOT spoiled!" Carly pounded the table with a fist. "My parents don't love me! They... they... they buy me things, and I never ever ask for this stuff! And they expect me to just love them, but I can't! They don't love me! They don't know love isn't bought by things! They never show me that!" She raised her voice even more, and Avery felt her eardrums pound. "SO DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS BEFORE YOU KNOW ME!"

Dev, however, refused to lose an argument. "All you've done is complain! Whine, whine, whine! Nobody cares, because you won't even let them! So go back to your own dumb table!"

"I'LL DO WHATEVER I WANT!" Carly screamed. "AND YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!"

"What seems to be the problem?" A cool voice seemed to come from no where, and both girls stopped yelling to look up in surprise. A man with long, greasy black hair and a hooked nose was looking lazily at them, his thin lips curved into a smirk. "Not a very good way to start your first day of school, is this?" His dark eyes burned down onto Carly.

"I... I..." Carly went very quiet and pale.

"10 points from Ravenclaw." He said carelessly. "Now get back to Ravenclaw table before I move you there myself."

Carly squeaked and ran back to her right table, blushing like mad. The man turned around and strode back to the staff table, without another word. Dev breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close!" She said faintly, "I thought he'd take points from Slytherin, too!"

An older Slytherin laughed. "Ha, that's Prof. Snape." They said smugly. "Head of Slytherin. He never takes points from his own house."

"Well, good." Dev said, taking a bite of salad. "Because Carly deserved that."

Avery never liked when people around her fought, so she said nothing. She felt bad since Carly got yelled at, but part of her thought she had been being ridiculous and needed straightened out, too. She looked over at the Ravenclaw table, and saw Carly sitting a bit distant from her housemates, not eating anything. She got up, tears on her face, and marched from the Great Hall in a frantic hurry, and Avery's heart sank. It didn't feel right to talk badly about her, because she looked genuinely upset, though Avery wasn't sure what she was so upset about. If her parents bought her everything, she'd probably be very happy.

Carly didn't show up to any other of their classes, which made Avery a little disappointed, and Dev eventually felt a little bad too. They'd have to find a way to make peace with the girl, before any of them knew enough magic to start casting hexes.

It was almost enough to make Avery miss the simplicity of home.

**Someone asked me what my updating schedule was and I meant to tell them, but my laptop's battery had a crisis and I've lost the specific message to reply back. So, after freaking out about my laptop with Dev and getting it back to normal, I wrote this and decided I might as well announce my plans publicly. I want to update my fanfic every day until school starts, but due to my school's construction I can't be sure when that'll be until. So far, we've been told we'd start on Sept. 7th, then the 12th, and lately it's been pushed back to the 19th, but the school looks dangerous and I don't think it'll even be ready by then either. Who knows, maybe I'll update daily until December! Kidding aside, I have no idea if I'll really be going to school on the 19th or not, but until further notice just assume that I am. I want to write my adventures for a long time, because this is really fun! Dev and I spend a lot of time talking about what to do next (Carly, surprise surprise, doesn't care). Once school starts I'll be pretty busy, but I'll try to write as often as I can whenever I'm at home and no one's calling me... and I'm not exhausted! I still have to take care of my sister, who is indeed the same person she is in my story. I'm actually very worn out today from getting her around town this morning, but I couldn't wait to write another chapter. Please review and continue to support our adventure!**


	8. 7 Fight or Flight

7. Fight or Flight

Classes at Hogwarts were proving to be more difficult than anything Avery had ever had to study in her life. It was definitely more interesting, yes, but much harder than a few arithmetic problems or a worksheet about vocabulary. Each day offered different subjects, and Avery found it was refreshing to have Charms on one day and Herbology on another.

It was a clear day when Avery had her first flying lesson. Avery was looking around at the other students, trying to find anyone who looked even slightly uncomfortable. She was nervous about learning to fly and felt foolish that she was probably the only one who was afraid to get on her broom. Most of the class looked rather excited, and Avery was disappointed.

"Good morning class!" Madam Hooch had a stern voice that was just as sharp as her old gym instructor's had been.

"Good morning, Madam Hooch!" The students responded. Avery's palms began to sweat. Madam Hooch went straight to the point, and instructed the class to command their brooms to rise to their hands. Avery tried to make her broom come to her by saying "Up!", but the broom stayed firmly attached to the ground. She looked around nervously. Some kids had their brooms ready, but others were showing difficulty like her. Most brooms were rolling around uselessly, barely leaving the ground but at least showing a little progress.

"With feeling!" Madam Hooch reminded them. Avery tried, but her broom was simply not going to budge.

"It's not working..." Avery whispered to Dev, who had just successfully managed to get the broom all the way to her.

"It knows you don't really want it to come." Dev whispered back.

Somehow, knowing the broomsticks had intelligence enough to know this didn't surprise Avery at this point.

"Up!" She tried again, desperately. The broom lifted hardly an inch before dropping again. Avery sighed in frustration.

"What's the matter?" Drawled Malfoy, who enjoyed watching Avery struggle with anything. "Not nervous about flying, are you?"

Avery ignored him and continued to try and convince the broom that lifting itself was a good idea. Eventually, she looked up to see what Madam Hooch was up to. She seemed busy lecturing a nervous Gryffindor to not sound uncertain when commanding the broom. Avery glanced quickly at Malfoy. He was talking about Quidditch to someone standing next to him. She took the opportunity to quickly kneel down and grab the broom herself, then looked around to see if anyone had noticed. No one seemed to be paying attention. When Malfoy went to watch her fail some more, he saw her holding the broom and gave her a suspicious look. Avery smiled as if to assure him that she had succeeded, but he sneered as if to show disbelief.

It didn't matter what Malfoy thought, because when Madam Hooch saw Avery with her broom she sounded pleased. "Good to see you finally got the hang of it, Miss Liddell." She said, before going to correct another student. Avery was a little proud of herself for managing to pull that off.

Once everyone had their broom ready, Madam Hooch gave instructions to mount the brooms and hover in the air. This is what Avery dreaded. She was terribly afraid of heights. Even small heights. If her feet weren't firmly planted to something that seemed stable, she was terrified. Even the wobbly feeling of wearing roller skates freaked her out.

Avery tried to convey her fear wordlessly to Madam Hooch with her expression, but she didn't seem to notice. It was instead noticed by Malfoy.

"Scared of heights, Liddell?" He smirked.

"No!" Avery said firmly. Now Malfoy was watching her, and she had to live up to her statement. She gripped her broom shakily, and straddled it with reluctance. It would only be for a moment, Avery reminded herself. Then she didn't have to worry about it, and she'd prove Malfoy wrong.

Before she could get in the air, the Gryffindor that had been having trouble earlier took off before anyone else. He cried out in panic, and Madam Hooch watched in horror as he soared much higher than what was safe for an unsupervised first year.

"Mr. Longbottom!" She called, reaching for her wand. "Get back to the ground!"

The boy, however, didn't seem to know what he was doing well enough to steer himself down, and instead crashed into part of the castle. He fell, and made a sick snapping sound when he collided with the ground. Students gasped and rushed to look at him, but Madam Hooch ushered them away to see the damage herself.

"Ow... ow..." Whimpered the boy, miraculously still conscious. Madam Hooch inspected him carefully, and tutted.

"Oh dear... it's a broken wrist." She stood up, supporting him and holding his wrist protectively. "Everyone stay put while I take this boy to the hospital wing. If I find out any one of you has gone into the air, you'll be out of here faster than you can say 'Quidditch'."

Madam Hooch and the Gryffindor disappeared into the distance, and Malfoy spied something lying in the grass and picked it up.

"Look what the clumsy oaf left here." He said, holding the object up for all to see. It was a glass sphere filled with a smoky essence. "Maybe if he gave this a squeeze, he'd remember to fall on his fat arse."

A few Slytherins laughed cruelly at the joke, but Avery and Dev did not. Avery really couldn't see anything funny in what Malfoy did, and she disliked him enough for bullying her that it didn't surprise her that she wasn't the only one.

"Give that back, that's Neville's!" A fellow Gryffindor boy with untidy black hair and glasses gave Malfoy a stern look. Avery noticed he had an oddly-shaped scar on his forehead, and remembered what she had heard about Harry Potter. She was suddenly very self-conscious in the presence of a wizard-celebrity.

Malfoy, however, showed no respect for the famous Harry Potter. "No." He said, mounting his broom. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for him to find." He kicked off the ground and rose gracefully into the air, and despite Avery's harsh feelings towards him, she slightly admired how easily he could take off and was a bit jealous of that. "How about the roof?"

"I hope the teacher comes back soon." Avery muttered. She would have loved to see him be expelled.

"What's the matter, Potter?" He taunted, toying with the object. "Bit beyond your reach?"

Harry glared up at Malfoy, a conflict showing on his face. Making up his mind, he mounted his broom as well.

"No, don't!" A bushy-haired Gryffindor girl scolded. "Remember what Madam Hooch said! You don't know how to fly!"

Harry ignored her and took off, easily reaching the same level as Malfoy. "What an idiot." The girl muttered.

"Give me back that Rememberall, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!" Harry demanded. Malfoy shrugged.

"Alright." He said, grinning. "Have it your way, then." Malfoy threw the Rememberall as hard as he good, intending to smash it against something, no doubt. Harry took off after it, at a remarkable speed. Avery assumed he must have had a lot of practice before attending school, because he managed to catch the Rememberall before narrowly missing a collision with the castle itself. Harry floated back to the ground with the sphere clenched tightly in his hand, as students cheered and ran to congratulate him on his impressive feat. Avery and Dev joined the commotion, until a stern voice hollered from nearby.

"Harry Potter!"

The cheering stopped, and everyone stopped to see that Prof. McGonagall had apparently witnessed the event herself. Harry suddenly looked very nervous, as he followed the strict woman back to the castle. Avery felt furious, because Malfoy had not been called out of class either. It wasn't fair, since it was Malfoy who had started trouble in the first place!

Malfoy, meanwhile, looked pleased and was laughing with his small band of followers.

"You stupid jerk!" Avery shouted at him. "Why did you have to do that?"

Malfoy glared at her. "I can do whatever I want." He sneered. "I don't have to answer to a Mudblood."

"Shut up, Malfoy!" A boy with red hair and freckles scowled at him. "Harry didn't deserve to get caught, he was only sticking up for Neville because you're a slimy git!"

"Watch your tongue, Weasley." Malfoy said sharply.

"What's going on here?" Madam Hooch had returned. "Where's Mr. Potter?"

"Got caught flying, ma'am." Malfoy said innocently. He smirked as a few students, mainly Gryffindors, gave him dirty looks.

"Well, then..." Madam Hooch composed herself. "Let's try to continue without Mr. Potter or Mr. Longbottom, shall we?"

Avery looked disappointed. She had thought she had gotten out of flying for the day.

"On my whistle, I want you to hover and then touch the ground." Madam Hooch reminded them. "Altogether, three, two, one!"

She blew the whistle. Students began to float a little, and Avery found herself among them. She hovered, feeling very dizzy, and tried to keep her balance steady with a little difficulty. She screamed a little when her broom rolled upside down, and could see Malfoy judging her with a knowing grin. Instead of being angry, however, Avery only felt afraid.

"Miss Liddell, straighten up!" Madam Hooch barked.

"Yes Madam Hooch." Avery strained to flip herself right, and wobbled.

"Very good." Madam Hooch nodded to herself. "You've all done well. I want you to return to the ground.

Avery tried to will her broom to go back down, but it did with an enthusastic drop. She yelled again in surprise, and hurt her knees from the small. It was only three feet, and no one seemed to be concerned about it, so Avery pulled herself up and brushed dirt off her robes. No one else seemed to have a problem, and Avery hoped that no one had really noticed her mistake.

"Alright, that concludes this lesson, I'm afraid we've run out of time." Madam Hooch announced. "You're all dismissed!"

Avery was relieved. She went with Dev to put their borrowed brooms away, and they walked back up to the castle together.

"Malfoy should have gotten a detention." Avery ranted. "It's his fault Harry was flying!"

"Yeah, I don't know why he wasn't." Dev agreed. "He doesn't even need to steal from Neville, he's got enough money to buy loads of those rememberalls."  
>"He didn't want to steal it." Avery remarked. "He just didn't want Neville to have it."<p>

"True." Dev sighed. "Oh no..."

Avery didn't know what Dev seemed so annoyed about, when she noticed Carly wasn't too far away. She was hanging around a corner of the dungeon, watching people go past. Avery wondered why she was standing there alone.

"I bet she's waiting for a Slytherin to go past so she can follow them." Dev said bitterly, as if reading Avery's mind. "She's so annoying. I wish she'd just accept reality for once."

Avery looked at Carly, wondering if she should at least try to befriend her. It might make her less negative if she had friends. She shared the idea with Dev, who scoffed.

"Hey man, if you want to, that's up to you." She said. "I'm not talking to her."

Avery didn't like doing things alone, but couldn't help but feel obligated to do something. "I'll see you later then." She said. "I just want to know more."

"Whatever." Dev sighed. "I'll catch you later in the Great Hall anyway." And she left. Avery would be alone with Carly, and she took a deep breath to cleanse herself before walking over.

"Hey." Avery said with a small smile. Carly looked at her and tried to do the same.

"Hey back." She said calmly.

"Umm... so... what are you doing?" Avery asked, trying to sound polite.  
>"Nothing, really." Carly sighed. "I don't have anything to do, so I just go somewhere and zone out a lot. No one cares anyway."<p>

"I care." Avery heard herself say. Carly looked surprised.

"Really? That's really uncommon." She showed Avery more interest now. "Where's that other girl?"

"Oh... she had somewhere else to go, I guess." Avery said. "I wanted to get to know you anyway, and she's hard to do that with..."

"I bet." Carly said. "She's with you everywhere. I hate when people do that, I'm surprised you haven't gone crazy and jinxed her or something."  
>"She's my friend." Avery told her. Carly looked glum.<p>

"No offense, but I think she's a jerk." Carly said. "And, no offense, I think you're a jerk too. But I guess I can forgive you. I don't hold grudges."

"That's great!" Avery said excitedly. Carly nodded.

"So, we're cool now." She said plainly. "Um, I guess."

"Yeah, we are." Avery smiled. "So, um... what kind of stuff do you like?"

"Oh... I like drawing..." Carly thought about it. "And some music, and anime..."

"That's cool... is there any kind of magic you like?"

"Eh." Carly shrugged. "It's kind of boring. There's nothing special that I'd use magic for anyway."

"I like Charms." Avery said, not sure what the proper response to that was anyway."

"Charms is alright." Carly agreed. "I really like Potions though... I guess I like chopping things up and stuff."

"I'm lousy at potions." Avery admitted.

"I think it's easy. All you do is follow the book." Carly insisted.

"I hate touching the bugs."

"Bugs are cool. I feel bad for them sometimes when I cut their heads off." Carly continued. "They're cute."

_How strange._ Avery thought. _And creepy._

"So... um..." Avery tried to think of something interesting to say. "I got to take flying lessons, and Harry Potter got in trouble."

"Who?" Carly asked.

"Harry Potter!" Avery tried to explain his importance as best she could to Carly.

"Oh, right. Him." Carly said, not sounding very impressed. "I had him in a class too, can't remember which one though..."

"You're not worried?" Avery asked, surprised by Carly's lack of concern.

"Not really." Carly admitted. "I could care less what happens to him. I don't look at someone's fame."

"I'm not just looking at his fame!" Avery insisted. "It's just not fair about what Malfoy did!"

"I guess. That makes me pretty mad." Carly decided. "I'd hit someone who did that to me. I could beat him up if you wanted me too."

"Yeah, I would." Avery really did want to see Malfoy get hurt. It would serve him right for once.

"Alright then." It seemed settled. They stood together for a moment, quiet. "Was there anything else you wanted?"

"Uh... not really..."

Carly yawned. "I'm gonna go take a nap or something." She said. "I really wish I could sleep down here, but I'm _not a Slytherin..._" She finished her sentence with a hint of mockery in her voice. "I'll see you later. Maybe." Carly walked away, and Avery went to her common room to get a few things before next class. She got Dev's books too, to save her friend the trip.

If Carly really would beat up Draco Malfoy, then maybe she would be someone worth having around.

**I'm so happy to see a handful of people seem to enjoy my story. Keep leaving comments, and if there's anything you particularly like or dislike let me know about it. I love hearing your thoughts, and it gives me something to tell Dev about.**


	9. 8 The Boy Under the Stairs

8. The Boy Under the Stairs

The Great Hall was buzzing shortly after their first flying lesson, as students gossiped about what was apparently a very big deal to the school. It turned out, or so Avery heard, that Harry Potter had not been expelled, but in fact had been chosen for a position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. At first, Avery hadn't completely realized why this was big news, and expected it had something to do with Harry's celebrity status. However, other students informed her that the news was so huge because that made Harry the youngest Quidditch player in a century. It was an impressive title for an impressive person, Avery thought.

The best part of this was the outrage of Draco Malfoy. He would rant on and on about how Dumbledore was merely showing favoritism for his star, "goody Gryffindor" pupil, while a band of sympathetic Slytherins listened to him in the common room. Avery thought it was only justice serving itself, and enjoyed watching the sour boy grow even more jealous of Harry Potter's good publicity.

"What are you smirking at, Liddell?" Malfoy would sneer when he caught her having a laugh to herself.

"Something funny." Avery replied vaguely. She never liked answering him, and would leave soon thereafter. He could probably figure out that she was making fun of him, and this also probably made him even angrier. Just as well.

Avery's curiosity about Harry Potter increased over that week. He didn't seem to have a huge group of friends hanging around, like the cool kids Avery remembered from Muggle school. Instead, he hung out with just one other boy, and occasionally the bushy-haired girl from their house would try to follow them around. She sounded bossy, and neither boy seemed to like her very much, but they weren't rude about it either. Avery wanted to see if she could be friends, too, but she didn't like just walking up to people and saying hello. What if it bothered them?

Instead, Avery was going to try and introduce herself more naturally. Maybe she could introduce herself in the library? No, Madam Pince wouldn't allow talking. She could try at the Quidditch pitch... but Avery didn't fly or know anything about Quidditch, so what would she be doing there? Well, that meant she would have to try and sit near him in class. Potions was coming up again, and she remembered seeing him there when Prof. Snape had made a point to single him out. She could try to be nice to him there.

Potions was not a very fun class. Avery hated chopping up insects, touching the gross potion ingredients, and the putrid smells that came from some people's caldron's, including her own. Prof. Snape was not the kind of teacher who would help you if you showed signs of struggle, and instead he would swoop down on you like a vulture, his eyes staring coldly down at you past his hook-nose, and he breathed down your neck in a way to make even the most steel-willed Gryffindor jumpy. Despite being a Slytherin, Avery's incompetence with the subject was enough to make Snape impatient.

Avery had convinced Dev to move to the more Gryffindor side of the classroom today, so she could have a better opportunity to find a way to introduce herself to Harry. However, she was having too much difficulty with her potion to be able to focus on starting a conversation, as smoke billowed from the top of her caldron.

"More dragonfly wings, miss Liddell." Snape would correct her, without even looking at the concoction that Avery had screwed up. Avery winced as she plucked more wings and tossed them into the smoking liquid, relieved when the smoke cleared up.

If Snape was bullying the students that messed up, it was nothing compared to the jives he made to Harry over seemingly anything. Avery was sure that Harry's potion was turning out better than her own, as it was bubbling a bright blue color while her's was a sickly yellow, yet Snape found more things about Harry to complain about to the rest of the class.

Harry tossed Snape a contempt look as he swept away, and went back to dutifully slicing flobberworms.

"I think yours is better." Avery said quietly, afraid that Snape might pick on her if he overheard her trying to encourage his least favorite student.

"Oh, er... thanks." Harry looked a little relieved that at least someone wasn't going to scold him in this class.

"Yeah." Avery said blankly, not sure what to follow herself up with. "Uhh... I'm not very good." She admitted. "I hate bugs, even dead ones."

"You get used to them." Harry told her, preparing to chop another flobberworm. Avery was careful not to watch that. "Before I came here, I used to sleep in a cupboard full of spiders."

Avery nearly dropped her wand into her caldron, but thankfully caught it in time. "You slept in a cupboard?" She asked, horrified. She imagined a cupboard under a sink, and imagined it was too small for a boy.

"Yes, under some stairs." Harry said. Well, it was a little bigger, but still appalling. "I live with some Muggle relatives... they're afraid of magic, and didn't want me to find out I was a wizard." He flicked a few bits of flobberworm into his brewing potion.

Avery could have never imagined that the most famous boy in her school lived in such an awful circumstance. Suddenly, her nervousness decreased significantly, as she realized he wasn't a pompous celebrity at all.

"My name's Avery." She said, much more at ease in the conversation.

"Err, Harry Potter."

"I know!" Avery said quickly, then continued hurriedly, "Not that that's why I wanted to talk to you... I mean... I grew up with Muggles too! I just thought... I thought Prof. Snape was being really, really unfair... ummm..." Avery blushed, more out of frustration with herself. "And I saw what happened in flying lessons... I really liked how you stood up to Malfoy." She paused for a breath. "He's really mean, and I'm glad you got on the Quidditch team by the way!" Avery ended her rambling on a little higher note, which Malfoy overheard and sulked over. Dev was watching Avery, grinning to herself.

"Oh... thanks." Harry said, looking at her a little oddly. His friend was staring at her too, and the two exchanged quick glances. "So... you grew up with Muggles too? What were they like?"

"Well... I guess it wasn't too bad." Avery said carefully. "My mom loves me, she just didn't know what to do a lot of the time... I had my own room and stuff, but I never was allowed to leave the house... and my sister... she has problems, it makes her really mean. I don't like her." Avery hoped she wasn't trying to one-up the misfortune of sleeping under the stairs with her own problems. In fact, she hoped her story sounded relatively normal.

"Can't be any worse than the Dursleys." Harry reasoned. "Especially my cousin... he was an awful brat. No one else saw him that way, though."

"Oh?" Avery was even more curious. "How so?"

"Well, he was big, got what he wanted... he had two bedrooms to himself, and always liked to chase me with his friends and bully me. I'd like to jinx him, to be honest."

"He sounds like my sister." Avery said. "She gets anything she wants with a tantrum, and she's always beating us up for no reason... One minute, you're just going to get a drink from the fridge, and the next, she storms in and throws a remote control at your face." She went a little quiet, not sure if she should continue or not.

"Really?" Harry sounded a little sympathetic. "So... I'm not the only one who... well, had a Dudley..."

"No." Avery said, smiling a little. "I had an Amanda."

Dev poked Avery from the side, but when Avery looked over to see what she wanted, she was only grinning more, looking mischievous. Avery didn't understand what Dev was up to, so she talked to Harry again, who was actually really easy to talk to. He introduced her to Ron, the friend he was always with, and Avery introduced them to Dev, who waved.

After class was dismissed, Avery said goodbye to Harry and walked back to the common room with Dev, who was giggling.

"What's so funny?" Avery asked. Had Dev just heard a joke somewhere?

"You." Dev said, smiling. "You're cute."

"Eh?" Avery was confused. "How am I cute?"

"You know."

"No I don't!" Avery insisted.

"You were flirting." Dev said happily. "With Harry Potter!"

"What?" Avery gasped. She had seen flirting on tv, and it was nothing like what had just happened!

"Aw, you have a crush on Harry Potter!" Dev squealed. She patted Avery on the head. "It's so sweet!"

"What? No!" Avery was turning red. She didn't have a crush on a boy! That was crazy talk! "We were just talking! We're friends!"

"Riiiight." Dev looked smugly proud. "You're blushing."

"I'm not blushing!" Avery huffed, blushing. Dev sniggered.

"It's okay, I think you're a very cute couple."

"We are not a couple!" Avery nearly screamed. "I don't like boys! Boys are weird! They're gross! And mean!"

"Harry isn't weird. Or gross. Or mean."

"Well, I'm sure he's gross in some way. He's a boy." Avery said with certainty. "I'm... I'm too young to think about boys."

"Okay, then." Dev said, still giggling. Avery looked mad the entire way to their common room, and things didn't get any better once she got inside.

"I saw you snuggling up to your boyfriend!" Malfoy called.

"HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Avery screamed angrily. Malfoy and his goons laughed, and she stormed to the girl's dormitory. She plopped onto her bed with force, and listened to the water lapping at her window to try and calm down. Boots saw her master looking upset, and jumped up to crawl on her. Avery pet her absently.

"I hate boys." Avery said purposefully. Boots said nothing, but purred with contentment. She kept to herself for awhile, not wanting anyone to think she liked Harry. It wasn't true, and she hated when people just assumed things. People should mind their own business, anyway.

No one bothered Harry about it, anyway.

**Dev took the time to draw little pictures of herself, me, and Carly as students. They're really cute! Check them out here, on my Photobucket! h****ttp : / i1234. photobucket. com /albums/ ff414/ acciocat/ scan0015 .jpg**

**Please remove the spaces, I had to put them there so the site wouldn't mess up the direct link. It's really hard to fix the link because parts disappear, so if the colon isn't after http again please put one there.**


	10. 9 Halloween

9. Halloween

It didn't take too long for the novelty of learning magic wore off and Avery realized that school was still hard. Her new classes were more difficult to get the hang of than anything she had ever taken before, but luckily her new friends were able to help her. She talked to Carly whenever they had class together, and noticed that after the first few weeks, Carly was in fact a better student than what she led everyone to think. She worked quickly and spent the remainder of class drawing, but only because sleeping had been largely discouraged by many of the teachers.

Dev was also quicker than Avery when it came to working. She often had to reexplain things to Avery after she messed up a few times. It made Avery feel foolish to need so much help, but she was glad she didn't have to ask the teachers every time.

Potions was the most frustrating subject. Avery made sure she talked to both Harry and Ron, so that Dev could see that she clearly had no favorites with the two of them. The boys were easy to talk to and Avery could relate to both of them fairly well. Something they all agreed on was their shared dislike of Malfoy, who had enemies in every house it seemed. Avery showed them the pictures she and Dev had drawn of him before, and they all had a laugh before being silenced by Snape.

Time slipped by, and before Avery knew it, October was almost over. Students seemed excited about the Halloween feast, which Avery thought sounded good as well. She tried to start a discussion one day about it in Charms, as they were festively shrinking pumpkins.

"I don't like sweets." Carly said sullenly as Avery brought up the candy she hoped would be at the feast. "I like sour things though."

"I saw you eating Chocolate Frogs like crazy." Dev said accusingly.

"That's different." Carly insisted. "Sometimes I like chocolate, even though it's gross. I'll eat a lot of it but I don't know why."

"Maybe it's because you secretly love chocolate." Dev suggested.

"I hate chocolate." Carly said, examining her tiny pumpkin. "I know I'm the only person in the world who does, though."

Dev grumbled something that sounded like "stubborn brat", but Avery pretended not to hear.

"Well, I bet they'll be sour candy too." She tried suggesting.

Carly sighed. "Maybe."

"It'll be fun!" Avery continued, "I heard the decorations will be cool, too!"

"Oh, that'll be nice." Carly said, somewhat happily. "You know, Halloween was always my favorite holiday. I like dressing up sometimes."

"You went to fancy dress parties?" Avery asked.

"Sometimes, when my mom wanted to go to one." Carly sighed. "She used to dress me up in stupid pink fairy costumes..."

Dev tried to conceal a snigger. Carly glared at her.

"Hrmmm." She growled.

"I'm sure it looked cute!" Avery forced a smile.

"I looked stupid." Carly huffed. "And I had blond hair, too..."

"You had BLOND hair?" Dev looked surprised.

"Yes." Carly snapped. "And blond hair is ugly, hideous, and DISGUSTING."

Avery frowned and stared at Carly.

"Oh." Carly realized what she had said and turned pink. "It looks good on some people though... like you..."

"Sure..." Avery said nervously.

"Erm... I mean... some people pull it off nicely..." Carly continued to backtrack. "There's this nice girl, Luna, who has nice hair... and umm... you know, that Malfoy kid's hair is nice too..."

"Malfoy?" Avery looked disgusted. "He's a jerk."

"Yes, but he's a pretty jerk, you know?" Carly added on.

"No." Avery insisted.

Carly sighed. "Just because someone is an awful person, doesn't make them ugly."

"Malfoy is an UGLY BUTT-FACE." Avery nearly shouted. Some people heard her and looked at her with a mix of confusion and amusement. Malfoy looked particularly offended.

"Miss Liddell?" Squeaked Prof. Flitwick, looking concerned.

"Nothing, professor." Avery put her head down.

"Nice." Carly commented. Avery blushed hard.

"Is he looking at me?"

"Who?"

"Malfoy!" Avery hissed.

"No." Carly said. "He's not paying attention anymore." Avery lifted her head.

"I mean it." She finished, trying to look serious.

"I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do."

"Hmph." Avery tried to change the subject. "You know what I can't wait for? Christmas."

"I hate Christmas." Carly said simply.

"Oh of course you do..." Dev mumbled. Carly clenched a fist but said nothing.

Avery wanted to be dismissed already.

Halloween came, and the Great Hall was lavishly decorated for the occasion. There were several huge jack-o-lanterns, which creeped out Avery so much that Carly had started to taunt her for it. The feast was just as delicious as the one at the start of term, and deserts included a large selection of sweets, pastries, and puddings. It was a perfect treat for Avery's sweet-tooth.

Carly sneaked over to the Slytherin table, dressed in Slytherin robes. Dev gave her a look of contempt.

"Where did you get those?" She asked accusingly. Carly smirked.

"It's Halloween, and I'm dressed as a Slytherin." She said smugly, as if this were a loophole. Dev scowled. "I think I ought to play the part."

"Don't think you're coming to the common room later." Dev reminded her.

"Shut up, quit trying to boss me around." Carly snapped.

Avery coughed. "Well, where did you get them?"

"I stole them from some girl." Carly said proudly.

"That's... nice."

Avery tried not to continue the subject by helping herself to more candy. There were so many kinds she wanted to sample!

She did not have long to get to them, however. The Great Hall doors were swung open by a very panicked and fearful Quirrell.

"TROOLLLLL!" He screamed wildly, "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!" He stopped running, and looked meaningfully up at the staff table. "Thought you ought to know." He added, before fainting.

Screams filled the Great Hall so suddenly that Avery barely had time to register what had just happened.

"SILENCE!" Prof. Dumbledore commanded, and immediately the screams deadened. "I want the Heads of Houses to lead the students back to their dormitories."

Dev looked at Avery with a fearful expression. "But our dormitories are in the dungeons!" She gasped. "What are they thinking?"

"Your dormitories are in the dungeons?" Carly asked, lighting up.

"Yes!" Hissed Dev. "This is no time to think of sneaking in! The troll is probably in our common room!"

"As if I care." Carly said. "I'm not afraid of a troll."

"You will be, once it starts clubbing in your skull!" Dev snapped angrily. "C'mon, we gotta get away from the troll..."

Dev began to lead Avery and Carly away from the rest of the Slytherins, who seemed to be being led to an untimely death with an untamed beast. Their escape was not unnoticed.

"Where are you off to?" Asked Malfoy nosily.

"Far away from the troll!" Avery replied. "You can go get killed if you want to."

"You're all paranoid." Malfoy shouted. Fortunately, he went to follow the other Slytherins, and did not try to bother them more.

"Good riddance." Avery muttered. The three girls snuck out of the castle, and Dev lead them to the lake, where it looked more serene in the moonlight.

"It looks peaceful here." Dev judged, sitting down. "And we can see a troll coming from a long ways away."

"How will we know when to go back in?" Avery asked, shivering.

"Hm. Didn't think of that." Dev admitted. "I guess we can just stay up all night... we did have all that candy."

"I got some in my pockets." Carly said. She turned them out to show that before the troll had invaded the castle, she had stuffed her pockets with sweets.

"I thought you hated sweets." Dev said.

"I do. I eat them anyway when I'm bored." Carly replied. "You can have them though, if you can't stay awake. I can stay up all night though."

"Thanks." Avery said, taking a toffee. Dev sighed.

"Not now, when you're tired!" She reminded her. Avery looked frustrated.

"Sorry."

They watched the lake, which was incredibly beautiful at night. It reminded Avery of the dormitory, listening to the water at her window. She wondered how Boots was doing, being down there with the troll. It made her anxious to think of what might happen to her...

"Well, well, well." The girls turned around to see Argus Filch, the caretaker, had crept behind them. "What have we here? Thought you'd be wandering around..."

"Sir, I can explain!" Dev said quickly. "We were just avoiding the troll!"

"The troll was on a second floor bathroom, not your common room." Filch said.

"The bathroom? But we heard-"

"It's a good thing Mr. Malfoy tipped me off." Filch continued. Avery felt a burn of anger for Malfoy again. He had ratted them out! "He seemed so worried... thought you'd wind up running into the troll... looks like you haven't though... you ought to thank Mr. Malfoy for his concern..."

Filch had them walk back up to the castle, where they were greeted by McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape.

"Here they are, caught 'em by the lake." Filch said proudly. "Punish them as you will..." He gave a satisfied grin to them.

Avery and Dev lost 20 points each, for disobeying the headmaster's instructions and sneaking out of the castle at night. Carly lost 40 points, 20 for following Dev and Avery's actions, and another 20 for impersonating a Slytherin and theft. They were each sent to their common rooms, and Avery and Dev complained loudly about Malfoy the entire way there.

"That slimy git!" Dev fumed. "Concerned, my arse!"

They entered the common room and found Malfoy sitting on a chair, grinning smugly.

"Enjoy your moonlight walk, girls?" He asked smugly. "Teach you to talk wrongly of your superiors, Liddell."

"I hope you don't mean yourself." Avery growled, throwing Malfoy a dirty look.

"I do." Malfoy grinned. "And you better watch your tongue, Liddell, because I can do other things as well..."

Avery finally lost her temper. She stormed over to where Malfoy sat, and before he could stand up, she had grabbed him by his robes and started yanking his hair.

"OWOWOWOWOW!" Malfoy yelped. He tried to reach for his wand, but Avery pinned him to the chair instead, and began to beat into him senselessly. "CRAZY MUDBLOOD! GET OFF OF ME!"

"Yeah!" Dev looked devilishly delighted. "This is all your stupid fault!" She sounded excited. "Avery, can I hit him?"

Avery pulled Malfoy up by the hair, and held him firmly so that Dev could take a few punches. Malfoy squirmed and struggled, but without Crabbe and Goyle he was utterly useless.

"MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!" He screamed angrily.  
>"Yeah Malfoy, go on and tell your dad you got beat up by two girls." Dev laughed coldly. "He'll be proud of you."<p>

Malfoy scowled, and slammed himself against another chair, which shook Avery's grip and gave him the opportunity to break free. He clasped his wand now, and brandished it at them both, looking furious.

"You're both mad!" He was angry, but shaking with fear. "I'll have you both expelled, Mudbloods!"

"I'm not Muggle-born, you stupid git." Dev corrected him. Malfoy could not care less, and shook his wand at her.

"You're still a worthless excuse of a witch! Both of you!" His eyes flashed. "Attacking me like wild Muggles!"

Avery took a step towards Malfoy, and he screamed. A bang errupted from his wand, and knocked something over that shattered. When Avery and Dev quickly looked to see what had broken, Malfoy ran as quickly as he could to his dormitory, which they heard slam shut.

"Maybe that taught HIM a lesson." Dev growled. "Malfoy's such a coward."

They both went back to their dormitory, where a few other girls waited for them, still awake.

"What was that?" One of them asked.

"Malfoy getting beaten by a girl." Avery said proudly. A girl with black hair crinkled her nose.

"You're such a savage." She sneered.

"You want yours next, Pansy?" Dev asked. Pansy glared at her and ignored them both. Avery crawled into bed, with Boots already snuggled into the blankets. Sleep was hard as she relived her outburst, and when morning came Malfoy avoided them both with all his effort. Dev seemed pleased. Avery was proud of herself at first, but eventually the feeling wore off. How could she have lost control like that? Malfoy was an unpleasant person, but Avery felt ashamed for hurting him like that. She knew she would pay dearly for it sooner or later.


	11. 10 Spitting Plants

10. Spitting Plants

Despite the setbacks with Halloween, Avery was quickly shoved back into her schoolwork and didn't have time to worry about them. It seemed that the bushy-haired girl, who's name was Hermione, was getting along much better with Harry and Ron, and was a great help to all of them when it came to doing assignments. Avery liked Hermione, who like her, thought she would have been in Ravenclaw instead. Most Gryffindors distrusted Slytherins, but Avery found it easy to earn the trust of her new friends. It was helped incredibly by the fact that Avery and Dev had attacked Malfoy on Halloween night, which Ron thought was hilarious.

November was getting colder, so Avery was more mindful to wear a scarf this morning before going down to the Herbology greenhouses. It was muddy this morning, and Avery feared she might slip on her way down the hills of the grounds. Dev seemed to have an easier time maneuvering herself, and was waiting for Avery to keep up with her slow pace.

"We're going to be late." Dev said with a teasing smile. Normally, it was Avery who had to wait for her to keep up.

"I'm really afraid of falling." Avery said stiffly. They finally reached greenhouse 1, where Carly was already standing around, waiting for them.

"Hey." She said with a small smile. Sometimes, Carly could be in a good mood, and it was these times that Avery felt incredibly lucky. She looked like she was in a good mood.

"Hey Carl." Avery said cheerfully. "How have you been?"

Carly shrugged. "Eh, alright." She grinned. "I've just been having a wonderful day."

Dev opened her mouth, as if to make a snide remark, but Prof. Sprout was asking for their attention.

Today they would be looking after a plant that were not only sensitive to being talked to, but they would spit in your face if they thought you were getting a little boring. It reminded Avery of when her grandmother would make her tend her garden back at home, and how she had said that plants grew better with nice conversation. These plants, however, were simply more picky about what a nice conversation was.

"So, how wonderful has your day been?" Avery asked, curiously.

"Well..." Carly was tending to her own plant very carefully. "I just feel like I've learned so much, today." She continued to look joyful.

"That's nice." Avery remarked, wincing when her plant spit on her. "Was it anything interesting?"

"Oh, it was very interesting. Yes, you could say that."

"Well?" Dev asked, whose plant had already spit on her quite enough.

"I just think it's useful." Carly said mysteriously. She gave Dev a sideways glare before ignoring her.

"I don't think she wants to talk to you." Avery told Dev.

"Of course she doesn't." Dev sighed. "I wonder what she's so happy about... Avery, this isn't normal. Something is wrong here."

"C'mon, everyone is happy sometime."

"But not her! She's never pleased about anything!"

"It's none of our business anyway." Avery reminded her.

"It's my business, Avery. I don't trust her when she's happy."

"Suit yourself."

Apparently, small arguments seemed to satisfy the plants, and they were given good marks for the day. As soon as they left, Avery headed to the Owlery to send off another letter to her mother, which had carefully avoided mentioning any of the unfavorable bits of her recent activities. By the time she managed to get back to the common room, she was incredibly tired.

"Oy." She said in greeting to Dev. "How's your Charms homework?"

"Don't think you're copying." Dev said. "I had no idea what I was doing."

Avery sat down next to her friend. "Maybe I can do it." She suggested. "And you can copy off of me instead."

"Have at it." Dev pushed her parchment over to Avery, who read it over carefully.

Avery was bent over the parchment and so absorbed in her essay, that it wasn't until someone screamed that she was able to look up.

"What are you doing in here?" A sixth-year cried indignantly. "You're that girl who invades our table!"

Avery and Dev quickly found Carly, dressed in another set of Slytherin robes, trying to sneak into the girl's dormitories.

"I got my house switched." Carly replied cooly, meeting eyes with her.

"You're a liar!" Dev shouted hotly. "There's no way you'd be able to switch houses! Besides, even if you did, the whole school would have to know!"

Other Slytherins quickly sprung to agreement. Carly looked flustered.

"They didn't want word getting out." Carly continued. "Thought it would... cause a commotion. Which it clearly is. They wanted my transfer to be quiet."

"Quit making stuff up, we know you are!" Dev's temper flared. She didn't want Carly to share a dorm with them, Avery thought.

"What's going on, what's going on?"

A prefect, Gemma Farley, stepped through the angry crowd. She spotted Carly and frowned. "What are you doing in here? You're a Ravenclaw, aren't you?"

Carly's face turned red, and her eyes locked to the floor in shame. "Yes."

"I knew it!" A boy from the back cried.

"How did you get in here?" Gemma asked, with surprising calm. It must have been a talent of prefects to be able to handle any situation.

"I... I nicked my robes. I know how to get them." Carly admitted slowly.

"Who told you the password?"

"No one. I... I found out where the common room was, and I just waited until I heard someone use it." Ah, Avery thought. The cleverness of a Ravenclaw after all.

Gemma was looking Carly over, but seemed to believe that she was telling the truth.

"Well, you certainly have the ambition enough to make it this far." She remarked. Carly perked up.

"Have I proven I'm Slytherin enough?" She asked hopefully.

"It doesn't work that way." Gemma reminded her. Carly scowled. "You'll have to leave."

"I just wanted to look around!" Carly protested. "It's so much nicer in here! Please let me look!"

"You've seen enough!" Dev said coldy. Carly gave her a distasteful look.

"Shut up!"

"Quiet, both of you!" Gemma shouted "I'll be fetching Prof. Snape shortly. Come with me." She gestured for Carly to follow.

"I'm not going." Carly said stiffly.

"Then 20 points from Ravenclaw." Gemma said, sounding tired.

"I don't care about points." Carly said smugly. "Or detention."

"Then it won't bother you when Snape gives you plenty." Gemma replied smoothly. "C'mon, I haven't got all day you know."

"Fine." Carly said, following Gemma. It confused Avery, but she thought she saw a small smile on Carly's face. When they left, the common room began to buzz with chatter.

"I can't believe she actually got in!" Dev said in shock. "No one's dared to come in!"

"She seemed happy about getting detention." Avery said thoughtfully. "Any ideas why?"

"No. She's just crazy." Dev sighed. "We still have this essay, Avery!"

Avery suddenly remembered, and she busied herself with work again.

The next few days, there was talk of the intruder in Slytherin's common room. During these days, Carly didn't come anywhere near the table, and Avery suddenly felt that she missed the Ravenclaw's presence. Dev called her mad, but Avery considered Carly to be a friend now. She heard that Carly had been given mounds of detention, but instead of looking glum and complaining, Carly often looked pretty cheerful about her arrangements. Avery couldn't imagine why.

One day, as they were sitting in Charms together, Avery decided to ask.

"So, Carly." Avery began, wondering how to ask her question. "So... what do you do in detention?"

"I help Prof. Snape clean his caldrons." Carly said happily, while making an apple tango. "I really like it."

"You... you like detention?" Avery looked like she was seeing an alien.

"Well... I like detention with Prof. Snape." Carly explained. "I just like the company of old people."

"You do realize he's like, 30?" Dev asked.

"Well... yeah... I was kidding!" Carly looked slightly agitated. "I mean, I just like him is all!"

"Heh... teacher crush." Dev smirked. Carly looked embarrassed.  
>"I didn't say that!" She said quickly.<p>

"Sure."

"Ew! Who would like a teacher? They're... they're... grown up!" Avery seemed utterly bewildered. Carly looked pink.

"That's not a problem to me." She said.

"But that's so old!"

"Shut up Avery." This time, it was Dev. "We get it, you don't like boys, yadda yadda."

Avery stopped talking, taken by surprise. She never noticed it before, but she did seem to proclaim her dislike of boys fairly often.

"Do I say it that much?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Carly said, without missing a beat, she added, "It's really annoying. Like you think you're better than us or something."

"Oh..." Avery felt cold. "I'm sorry..."

"Just shut up about it." Carly sighed.

Avery hadn't realized that she had been doing wrong. She stopped, and thought. Did she like anyone, really? Well, she liked Harry and Ron, but as friends. She hadn't liked a boy since she left Muggle school, actually. Now she had been so wrapped up in magic, she didn't notice...

"Sometimes..." Dev said playfully, "I thinks the lady doth protest too much..."

"Huh?" Avery blushed. But why? She didn't like anyone, that was foolish. It made her blush even more. How annoying! "Uh... anyway." She wanted to change the subject again, "Does Snape make you clean those by hand?"

"Yes." Said Carly.

"Oh geez, that must suck!" Dev commented.

"Nah." Carly brushed it off. "It's not that bad. I kinda prefer it, y'know? I mean..." She added hastily, seeing Avery and Dev's looks of bewilderment, "I don't like using magic... well, actually, I guess I do, but not for _everything_, you know? Just for things I need it for. If I just use magic for everything I do, then I feel like I'm lazy."

"Oh!" Avery nodded. "Yeah, I get it." Dev nodded as well.

It was still hard to imagine not preferring magic, though, Avery thought. Magic was fun, and special, and she had more faith in magic simply because of what it was. She didn't know what it was, actually, but to her magic made everything better.

After thinking about it, she wondered if that was how Purebloods thought about themselves, and she shivered. Just because something was magic, Avery rationalized quickly, did not make it_ better,_ just more _interesting_. She urgently banished any thoughts of superiority from her mind, worried it would make her as conceited as the Purebloods in her house, especially Malfoy. Of course, not all Purebloods were bad either, she told herself desperately. Ron was a Pureblood, and he was nice...

Avery often did this to herself, and she would become very worried about how she formed her thoughts and became incredibly self-conscious, as though anyone looking at her could hear her thinking to herself and judge her for what they heard. The back-tracking and re-wording that followed these outbursts tended to eventually make her feel very lost, and she decided to think about something else.

Her new thoughts wandered to Harry Potter. Not because he was a boy, mind you, or because he was a celebrity (though that was _very _interesting indeed), but because he was her friend, but she still didn't know much about him. Avery had thought meeting a celebrity would be different, but Harry wasn't much different from anyone else. He was actually a lot like herself- he didn't seem familiar with the wizarding world yet, but he was enjoying it just as much as she was. Sometimes she wondered if they had more in common to discover, but was paranoid about being teased so much that she didn't talk to him as much as she'd like to. Maybe she should just get over it... after all, according to Carly, her point had been made, so there was nothing to worry about. But what would she talk about?

It was all very confusing and Avery didn't much like thinking about this either.

So she thought of the next best thing- December was on its way, and soon it would be Christmas.

**Author's Notice: **Wow, it's been a long time since I updated. It's been- 3 months, maybe? I apologize to the people who were enjoying my story! If you're interested in knowing what took so long, feel free to read while I try to explain myself...

When I got back to school, I had English 12 scheduled for the first semester. That meant I needed to complete a senior project by the end of this semester, which I didn't get started on until late because I was a new student. A senior project is a required-by-law assignment that must be completed in some states of the U.S. in order to graduate high-school. Each school has a different requirement for senior projects, and mine was a tall order. I needed to complete 100 hours of volunteer work, write two essays, and put together a presentation of all my achievements. My project involved me at the local public library, where I recorded obituaries off of a microfilm machine and helped researchers find their ancestors. I got to type index cards on a typewriter, and it was a great experience, but my hands were sore every night and my brain was usually very tired (6 hours of school followed by 3-6 hours of working at the library). I took a break from writing all leisure projects until my 100 hours was up.

I'm pleased to say I got everything finished and my presentation is tomorrow. Thank you for your patience and understanding, and I hope that I can get back on the ball with my new schedule and continue writing these chapters. I hope each of your holiday's were longer than mine, and just as enjoyable.


	12. 11 Aim at the Ground and Miss

Chapter 11: Aim at the Ground and Miss

Avery resolved over the next week that she would try and form more friendships, especially with her Gryffindor classmates. Over and over again she had heard that Slytherin and Gryffindor had been rivals, but she couldn't understand why it had to apply to _her_. Besides, Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't seem to have a problem with her or Dev, so maybe it wasn't something you had to subscribe to.

One Saturday morning, Avery woke up before any of the other girls in her dorm. She hadn't actually meant to, but it happened. Even Boots was gently snoring at her feet. Avery moved herself very carefully, as to not disturb her sleeping cat, and slipped out of her four-poster.

"Psst." Avery hissed softly, "Dev, you awake?"

Dev rolled over in her sleep, and Avery sighed internally. She hated getting up first, it was always lonely and she could never go back to sleep. Why did she always get up so easily on the weekend, anyway?

It wasn't even like there was anything to do on a Saturday morning. Well, magic was amazing, of course, but sometimes Avery missed the simple things she had grown up with in her Muggle household. Cartoons, video games, bowls of sugary cereal that turned her milk different colors. Malfoy didn't know what he was missing.

Avery quietly dressed and moved out of the dorm. Pansy snored loudly as she walked past, but thankfully did not wake up. The common room was empty as well, Avery noticed, and she wondered what time it was. She hadn't checked the time, and there was no natural sunlight to come in that could give her an approximate guess. It looked like she'd have to go up to the Great Hall herself to see if breakfast was being served yet.

Hardly anyone was at breakfast yet. A few students from other houses lazed about, eating toast, and Avery went to a rather sparse looking Slytherin table and sat by herself. She had an egg and a piece of sausage, deciding that later she'd come back and have a bigger meal when Dev woke up (Avery rather liked to eat). Since there was a little bit of light outside now, Avery decided to walk outside, thinking it was a nice thing to do on a Saturday morning, and maybe she'd get to see more of the grounds.

As she wandered outside, the sun rose slowly, and she realized that where she was walking to was a stadium. There was shouting coming from it, and to Avery's astonishment there were people inside, flying around at amazingly high speeds. She looked up to see scarlet blurs zoom through the air, and in interest she stood and watched them. This might be better than cartoons after all.

Then she noticed Harry hovering over the others, and remembered her resolution to befriend him. She would ask him about this flying game, she decided, and that could be a nice conversation starter. Quidditch, wasn't that what it was called? A wind picked up, and she hugged her Slytherin robes around herself warmly. Then a boy's voice, loud and angry, startled Avery.

"Hey! What are _you_ doing here?"

Avery looked up to see that she was being addressed to by a boy that flew around the loop-shaped goals. His sudden anger frightened her, and she quickly hid behind a pillar to hide herself in embarrassment.

She listened as other voices chimed in, telling her to go away. "Spy!" Some of them exclaimed.

The players had flown down now, and the one who had called her out found her hiding almost immediately. He looked much older than her and it made Avery extremely nervous. She shook a little.

"Spying for the Slytherin team?" He said it like an accusation, rather than a question. Avery shook her head rapidly.

"No!" She squeaked nervously. "I was just taking a walk..."

"By standing around?" He asked suspiciously.

"I've never seen people fly like that before!" Avery said defensively.

"Avery?" Harry's voice. Avery was relieved to see him with the rest of the flying people, looking at her with puzzlement but not with hostility.

"You know this girl, Potter?" The boy who had been questioning Avery looked at Harry.

"Yeah, she's my... friend." Harry said, looking at her. Avery nodded and smiled encouragingly.

"Come off it, Wood." Another older boy, one with red hair, spoke. "She looks like a first-year."

"Probably Muggle-born," An identical boy added, "if she's never seen Quidditch before."

"A Muggle-born Slytherin? That ought to be rare, that."

"I... I'm Muggle-born." Avery pitched in. Everyone looked at her.

"Well there you go, Wood. She's not a spy, most likely."

"I don't like it." The boy called Wood said. He addressed her again. "Alright, if you're new to this, I understand, but I'd like to get back to practice now. We've got a lot of maneuvers left to cover-"

"Aw, enough of your bloody maneuvers, Wood." One of the red heads complained. "We're tired."

"And starving." The other said.

"Besides," The first boy went on, "I bet Harry here wants to talk to his friend." The boys nudged Harry and winked, but Harry didn't look concerned. Avery had to prevent herself from turning red. She really hated these assumptions.

"Alright, we'll take a five minute intermission, then it's _back to practicing._" There was a groan. "Don't give me that!"

For five blissful minutes, the Gryffindor teenagers took a break. Some stretched their legs a bit, and Harry approached Avery with a look of confusion.

"What're you doing here?" He asked, in a much nicer way than his teammate had.

"I... uh... well..." Avery looked around nervously. "I was just walking, you know, and everyone else was asleep... I didn't mean to interrupt, really, I'm really sorry..."

"It's okay, Oliver Wood's like that with all of us." Harry said, sympathetically. "He's just concerned about winning the cup."

"Oh... okay." Avery sighed with relief. "So, was that Quidditch?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded.

"Is it fun?"

"It's brilliant!" Harry smiled widely. "I've never flown before, but it's amazing, Avery!"

"I bet..." Avery looked a little nervous. "But I'm scared of heights..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I completely forgot." Harry realized. "It's not so bad though, when you get used to it, I bet."

"Yeah... I bet." Avery absently agreed. "Um, Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"I meant to look for you later, actually. Do you... is it okay if... well... are we friends?" She finally spat out.

"Huh?" Harry scratched his neck. "I thought we were already friends..."

"Oh! Well, um, I thought so too! It's just that... I'm not very good at this whole friend thing." She admitted sheepishly. "That and we're from different houses and all."

"Does that really matter?" Harry asked, surprised.

"No, not to me. But, you know, some people..."

"Like Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, people like him. And others, I've noticed... especially when it comes to Gryffindor and Slytherin. We're not supposed to like each other very much."

"I've noticed, but it doesn't matter to me, as long as it doesn't matter to you." Harry said.

"Of course." Avery beamed. "I don't mind, really, I was just checking... being sure..."

"It's okay, Avery. We're friends." Harry beamed back.

Avery was secretly thrilled.

Before much longer, Oliver Wood had the team ready for more practice, and Harry had to say goodbye. Avery left the pitch to make his paranoid captain happy, and went back to the castle dungeons.

By now a few more Slytherins had stirred, though the common room was still rather empty. Anxious around so many strangers, Avery went back to her dorm, where she laid down in her bed with Boots snuggled delightfully warm against her chest.

She stayed perfectly still and let her thoughts wander aimlessly. Dev ought to wake up soon. When she did, Avery would follow her up to breakfast, and then tell her about seeing the Quidditch players flying around. Then what?

Someone was getting up. Avery peeked to see who it was. Pansy Parkinson stretched, looked at Avery, then sneered.

"What are you looking at?" She asked snidely.

Avery said nothing, and tried to mimic sleep.

"Hmph. Rude little Mudblood. I can tell that you're awake. Don't look at me."

Avery remained still, and listened as Pansy huffed and eventually left the dorm.

Everyone in this house was so rude to her. Except Dev, of course. Did having Muggle heritage really mean something? Was she really that disgusting? Her heart sank a little, and the words stung. Was it this bad in the other houses, too?

Boots rolled over and snuggled her face deeply into Avery's chest. It felt so good to have a purring, warm cat so close to her. It was almost like the cat was radiating love. Avery smiled. At least her pet held her to such a high regard.

Eventually, Dev woke up in the next bed. Avery listened as her friend sleepily grunted and squeaked.

"Good morning." Avery said politely.

"MmmmHmmmRrrrrrNnnnrghEeeee."

"Yes. That."

Dev pulled the blankets over her head and rolled over.

"Nooo. C'mon, wake up." Avery pleaded.

"No." Dev mumbled. "Sleeeeepyyyy."

"You're no fun." Avery said accusingly. "I want to get up."

"Then get up."

"I want you to come with me!"

"Ughhuuu." Dev yawned. "Fine..."

Avery sat up eagerly, and waited for Dev to get changed. When Dev emerged, she looked at Avery up and down.

"You look like you've been ready." She commented.

"I actually got up before." Avery admitted. "I was waiting for you to wake up."

"Oh." Said Dev, then, "Sorry."

The girls left the Slytherin common room and went to the Great Hall. Dev got an egg, and watched as Avery also began to eat.

"I thought you already ate."

"I did." Avery said guiltily.

Dev shook her head.

A group of people wearing scarlet robes entered the Great Hall. Avery recognized them as the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and she waved as Harry walked past. He shot her a look that was very tired and waved back. Avery smiled, pleased with herself. Dev sniggered and got her foot stomped on.

"Ow!"

Avery glared.

"I didn't say anything, gosh!"

"You were thinking it."

"No, YOU were thinking it." Dev retorted. "Anyways, that hurt!"

"Sorry." Avery said. "I just wish you'd stop. Harry and I are friends, I asked him about it."

"When?"

"This morning, while you were snoring away."

"I did not snore!" Dev balked. "So, did you discuss your friendship over a nice, romantic walk, or- OW! I get it!"

Avery's eyes flashed with aggression, and Dev did not mention it again. At least, for that morning. The truth was, Avery really didn't think of anyone like that, and the assumption that she did would usually make her upset. She took it as such a strong personal offense that some people might think it was protesting too much, but to Avery, the world didn't protest enough. The reason why wouldn't become clear to her for years to come.

For now, Avery pushed it behind her and enjoyed a Saturday with her friends.

When she thought it was a good idea, Avery sought out Harry again. She found him sitting around the castle, deeply engrossed in a little green book titled _"Quidditch Through the Ages"_. At first she worried that her approach would interrupt a good story, but eventually decided that it wouldn't matter, since they were friends and all of that.

"Hey." She said casually. Harry looked up and closed his book. She waved.

"'ello." He replied. She stared at his book.

"What were you reading?" She asked. He told her.

"It has loads of interesting stuff." He concluded. Avery looked impressed.

"May I borrow it?" She asked, then added hastily, "After you've finished it, I mean."

"Sure." Harry said.

Harry was so nice, Avery thought. No wonder people thought she liked him.

Mustn't dwell on that, she reminded herself.

"What's it like to fly like that?"

"Well, it's... it's hard to explain." Harry looked suddenly very, very happy. "It feels like being completely alive... more alive than I've ever been. Like nothing really matters, you know?"

"That sounds so nice..." Avery decidedly agreed. "I wouldn't be able to do that."

"I bet you could." Harry disagreed. "You're too down on yourself, Avery."

"Oh... it's nice that you think that, too." She said dismissively. "It's too bad I really can't."

"Don't say that." Harry said. "Look at where you are. You're a witch, right? I bet there's loads of stuff that you can do now that you never thought you could."

"Hmm." Avery seemed thoughtful. "I guess... but... I'm not very good..."

"You'll do better."

"I might fall."

"No you won't."

Avery huffed. "Don't tell me what I won't do!"

Harry laughed. "For being down on yourself, you sure are funny."

This made Avery smile. "You think?" He nodded. "Well... maybe. But not now. I couldn't now..."

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"I just... can't."

Harry looked determined. "I'll help you."

"No... that's okay."

"C'mon." He tried to pull her along. Avery protested and tried to pry away.

"Ack! No!" She protested, "I'm not a brave Gryffindor like you!"

Harry ignored this and led Avery outside. Along the way she tried to threaten him, but nothing worked.

"Stop! I'll BITE you!"

"We're here." Harry said, letting go. They were by the pitch again. Avery took a few steps backward. "Don't you dare run away."

Avery looked at him with the most pitiful look she could muster. "Don't make me..." She whimpered.

Harry shook his head, and got a broom. It was a nice broom, Avery thought. He handed it to her. She took it and stared at it blankly.

"Harry... I don't know if you noticed, but... I can't fly."

"Don't worry so much." Said Harry, getting his own broom. "If you worry too much, it'll cause you to fall."

"Oooh." Avery winced. "I don't want to fall..."

"Then don't worry about it, just fly."

She shakily grasped her brooms handle and swung her leg over it. Heart thumping, she tried to kick off, but fell back to the ground.

"There." She said. "I did it. It didn't work."

Harry shook his head and kicked off. He glided upwards gracefully, and Avery felt envious.

"You can do it!" He cheered from above.

Avery held her breath and braced herself, the same way she would before diving into a swimming pool. Then she looked up, focused on Harry, and kicked...

She felt herself leave the ground, and suddenly she became light and unbalanced. "Whoa!" She cried, spinning around. When the world appeared upside-down, Avery screamed.

"Help!"

"Roll back up! Roll back up!"

"I don't like this, Harry! I really don't!" Avery whined. She closed her eyes, and rolled several times before stopping upright. "Ohnoohnoohnoohnooh- oh." She looked around, wobbled, but caught herself. "Hey, look at me!"

Harry beamed. "It's alright, isn't it?"

"Well, I'm not upside-down." Avery said stubbornly. She was actually kind of enjoying this.

"Try to fly a little bit." Harry encouraged, making little circles overhead. Avery scowled in determination, and went forward. The broom wobbled underneath her.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa..." Avery steadied herself nervously, but managed to move forward a few feet. "These things need training wheels!"

Harry laughed appreciatively. This made Avery feel a little easier and she relaxed. She rose a few feet into the air, and spun around Harry.

Ha, Avery thought. Flying was easy!

"Look!" She called proudly. "I'm flying! I'm... I'm flying around you!" She giggled.

It was fun!

Harry followed her loosely. "I thought you'd like it." He said.

"It's like swimming." She said happily. "Only without water."

"Unless it's raining." Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, unless it's raining!" Avery giggled again. She wanted to fly in the rain, now. Avery burst with speed at the thought of it.

"Hey!" Harry called. He caught up with her easily. "Fly faster, why don't you?"

It felt nice to feel her hair brush against her face, and to hear her cloak billowing behind her. Avery gleefully raced Harry along the pitch, urging herself to keep up, and forgetting to breathe at times. At last, Harry stopped, and Avery skidded to a clumsy halt beside him, grinning madly.

"Whoo!" She cheered.

"You're not bad." Harry said. "Maybe next year, you can try out on your team?"

Avery blushed with modesty. "Me? I'm... I'm no good at sports."

"I never played sports." Harry admitted.

"Oh? Well, maybe..." Avery eased up. "Dev did mention it earlier."

"Then it's settled." Harry decided. "I hope you make it!"

"Yeah!" Avery felt pumped. Flying was an exhilarating new activity.

Eventually, Harry showed Avery how to descend, and when her feet touched the grass she felt very dizzy. The ground beneath her seemed to wobble as her legs readjusted themselves.

"Whoa, that's weird." She remarked.

"You get used to that." Harry told her. "You should've been with us at practice, now THAT was something..."

They began walking back to the castle, when Avery noticed a very large man walking down from the entrance. It was the same man from the beginning of the year, who had directed the first-years to the boats.

"Hey, there's Hagrid." Harry tugged at Avery's cloak. "Want to say hello?"

"Err..." Avery peered anxiously at the great man, then back at Harry. "You know him?"

"Yeah, he's my friend!" Harry explained cheerfully. "He's a great guy, I promise!"

"Alright..." Avery nodded, and Harry led her towards him. She wondered where Hagrid was headed, and stuck close to Harry for guidance. Well, it would give her something more to tell Dev when she got back.


	13. 12 Hagrid's Hut

12: Hagrid's Hut

Hagrid led them to a small wooden hut that sat near the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Avery thought it looked much too small to accommodate such a large man, but she politely kept that to herself.

Once inside, a wave of heat washed over them. There was a fire going strong, though perhaps there was a draft at night, and maybe it got chilly. Still, Avery felt a bead of sweat start to trickle down her forehead after only a moment of being inside. She wiped it hastily and hoped the rest of her wouldn't start sweating.

Harry looked more comfortable in the tiny space, and took a seat on one of Hagrid's large chairs. A dog padded over to him and Harry scratched its ears, as the dog drooled happily on his robes. Avery wasn't much of a dog person, and silently prayed that the dog would not come to drool on her as well.

"So, who's yer friend?" Hagrid asked Harry, then, "Ah, g'down, Fang. Yeh lump."

The dog obeyed quietly, and gave Avery a hopeful look, before sulking to a corner in the room.

"This is Avery." Harry said, "She was learning how to fly."

Hagrid looked approvingly at Avery, and she felt shy.

"Merlin, 'Arry! A Slytherin and a Gryffindor, bein' friendly! No' very of'en a thin' like that happens, bu' of course yeh do it! Jus' like yer mum." Hagrid seemed proud for a moment, and Harry's face brightened at the compliment. Then his attention turned to Avery. "'Fraid I'm no' familiar with yer face, though." Hagrid looked thoughtful.

"Um, I'm new." Avery offered helpfully. Hagrid waved his hand dismissively.

"Nah, dun matter. I'd recognize yeh from yer mum or dad... I been here a long time, yeh see." Hagrid explained. He got up from his seat and began to busy himself with a kettle.

"My family never came to Hogwarts." Avery said timidly. "I'm the first one." She wondered what he'd think of this.

She needn't have worried, because Hagrid didn't seem the least bit revolted. "Muggleborn, eh? Well, comin' from Slytherin, tha's a surprise, bu' no' impossible, no' at all! Seen me fair share of 'em, jus' rarely."

"Why is that?" Avery asked. "I mean, for a Slytherin to come from a Muggle family?"

"Ah..." Hagrid was now fetching a rather large tray of cakes, which he laid on the table as an offering. Avery instinctively took one, but noticed Harry trying to tell her something. Whatever it was, she didn't hear it, because Hagrid continued and she was keen to hear what he had to say.

"Yeh see, long time ago, Salazar Slytherin though' tha' magic ought to be strictly in magic families." He explained carefully. "Wasn'a keen on lettin' anythin' less than Pureblood in'ta school. Fer a long time, the Sorting Hat honored tha', but now wha's the point? Pureblood's jus' a load of hogwash, if yeh ask me. Loads of Slytherins now'days has at leas' one Muggle in their family, an' sometimes there's a few Muggleborns let in as well. Jus' how time changes people."

"So..." Avery was making sense of this, but hardly believing it, "Salazar Slytherin, the wizard who found my house... he didn't like Muggleborns?"

"Yeh can say tha'." Hagrid said shiftily. Fang whined.

Avery weighed the cake in her hand (it was rather heavy), and thought. "So... he wouldn't have wanted someone like me in Slytherin? Aren't I unworthy of learning magic, by his rules?"

"Tha' was the past, Av'ry! Dun worry yerself with the past!" Hagrid nearly shouted, but his tone wasn't meant to be harsh. It sort of made Avery feel grateful. "Yer jus' as worthy as any Pureblood, an' besides, tha' ol' Salazar never knew yeh."

"Is Malfoy giving you trouble?" Harry asked. His question was timed to interrupt Avery from taking a bite of her heavy cake.

"Malfoy? No' a single decent wizard was ev'r a Malfoy." Hagrid said darkly. "Big supporters of You-Know-Who, yer bett'r 'en tha'."

"Supporters of You-Know-Who?" Avery said, surprised. She didn't like Malfoy, but hadn't quite chalked him up as _evil_.

"Whole lot o' 'em. Very inter th' Dark Arts." Hagrid explained a little to them both, and Avery felt rather sick about it. She put her cake down, losing her appetite.

"Are all... well, most Slytherins like that?" Avery asked. Harry seemed interested as well.

"Some say. But don' worry about it, yeh two. I shouldn'a o' told yeh tha'."

Avery quietly reflected on this as Hagrid turned his attention back to Harry. The Dark Arts sounded dangerous, and she wondered if she'd become an evil sort of witch if she ever used it. What was a dark witch or wizard like? Did their skin turn green and warty like in fairy tales?

After enjoying some tea and exchanging rather mild conversation for the rest of the visit, Hagrid suggested they head back to the castle. As Avery joined Harry on their journey uphill, she was overcome with the desire to know more.

"Harry, do you remember what he looked like?"

Harry seemed confused. "What who looked like?"

"Him. That guy everyone is talking about?"

"Oh, er..." He awkwardly touched his scar. Avery felt a pang of guilt for asking. It probably wasn't a welcome memory for him. "I remember a green flash, but that's about it really."

"Oh." Avery said, disappointed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'm sure I wouldn't want to remember." He paused. "Hagrid's the one who came to find me, you know."

"Really? I bet that was shocking!"

"Yeah, it was." Harry agreed. "I'll have to tell you about it... Avery?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you notice anything weird in this school?"

"Weird? There's lots of weird things, Harry. Everything's magic!"

"Well, yeah, but even for magic, there can be weird things. Have you heard about a man named Nicholas Flamel?"

Avery shook her head. "No, sorry."

"It's alright."

"What do you need to know about him?"

"Oh, a homework assignment, that's all." Harry said. Avery was satisfied with that.

The rest of their walk was rather quiet, though Avery was mostly conserving her breath for walking so steeply upwards. Even after her short stay in Hogwarts, she was rather out of shape.

They parted ways at the Marble Staircase, as Harry made his way up to an unknown floor. Avery slipped into the dungeons, where she saw Dev sitting in one of the armchairs, reading a book.

"Where have you been?" Dev demanded. "I was looking for you!"

"I was at Hagrid's." Avery explained. "The big guy with the beard."

"What were you doing with him?"

"Harry and me were visiting. Harry was just teaching me to fly, that's all." She shot a warning look at Dev. "And I'm good at it."

"That's great!" She smiled encouragingly. "So you're not gonna cheat anymore?"

"That would be un-Slytherin-like of me." Avery joked. Then she looked serious for a moment. "Dev, are Slytherins... evil?"

"No!" Dev said immediately. "Slytherins are amazing! We're smart, and beautiful, and everyone wishes they were us..."

Avery laughed, but shook her head. "You know what I mean. It's just, I hear so many bad things."

"There are bad students from every house." Dev remarked. "Slytherins just get more publicity for theirs."

"I suppose." Avery slumped into a chair across from her. "What are you reading?"

"A book I brought from home." Dev showed Avery the cover, which read _Coraline_. "Hogwarts library doesn't carry Muggle books."

"That's because nobody really wants to read that trash." A nasty voice. We looked up to see Pansy was in the common room as well.

"Buzz off." Dev said, slamming her book shut.

"Filthy blood-traitor." Pansy sniffed. "I can't believe they make us share a dorm with people like you."

"I thought dogs weren't allowed in school." Dev retorted. "But clearly, someone let in a b-"

"How DARE you?" Pansy shrieked. Before Avery knew what was going on, there was a sound, and Dev fell back in her chair.

"DEV!" Avery cried, rushing to her friend. Pansy laughed.

"Consider it repayment for Draco's TORTURE." She said with a smug look of satisfaction.

Avery nearly recoiled. Dev's face was covered in a large, throbbing boils. Her hands covered her appalled expression.

"I'll get you back, you witch!" Avery shouted angrily. Malice glinted in Pansy's eye.

"At least I AM a witch!" She shot back. "I bet you're barely that!"

"Why you..." Avery's hand flew to her wand, but it was too slow. Pansy's wand was already pointed at her, and with a quick searing sensation on her face, Avery felt painful boils sprout through her skin. She screamed and tried to cover them with little success.

"Learn to treat your superiors with respect." Pansy sneered.

Humiliation burned in Avery's blood. She felt herself choke. _No, don't do that here..._ She thought desperately.

She cried like she'd been holding back. Pansy looked absolutely gleeful about it, and began to laugh cruelly.

"Go cry like a baby." She taunted. "Go back home to your Muggle tribe or whatever."

Avery stormed out of the common room, still blubbering tears. Some other Slytherins jeered at her, while some looked at the scene in silence.

With her hands still covering her face, Avery became lost in the dungeons. She found a quiet passageway that was dark and damp, and leaned against the stone wall hopelessly. Hopefully someone would find her...

"Miss Liddell." A cool voice told Avery that apparently, she hadn't been hard to find. "What brings you to this part of the dungeon? It's a long way from the common rooms."

Avery looked up at the professor who spoke to her. It was Prof. Snape.

"I was lost, sir." Her voice trembled and she blushed in embarrassment. Humiliation swept through her again and she fought back another wave of tears.

Snape examined her more closely. "Who jinxed you?" He sounded unconcerned.

"Pansy Parkinson, sir."

"I see." It wasn't a committed response. Prof. Snape turned quickly and beckoned Avery to follow. She kept up with him, wondering what would happen. Would he confront Pansy, or give her detention for being out?

They stopped at his office, and she followed him inside. There were jars of disgusting things in liquid that lined his walls. It made Avery nauseous, but she put her hands down now that Snape already knew what she looked like. He went into a cupboard and plucked out a small vial of something Avery couldn't identify. He handed it to her.

"Drink." He ordered.

Avery took it in one gulp. It tasted foul and she nearly spit it out, but caught herself in time. She felt something weird happening to her face.

"Cure for boils." The potions master explained. Avery relaxed.

Behind him, there had been a row of other potions in various interesting bottles. She tried to look at them, but Snape stepped in front of them, forcing her to turn her attention to him.

"Now, tell me, Miss Liddell, what caused this interesting attack."

Avery gave a recap of the story to Snape, who listened without much input or reaction. When she was finished, Snape only told her to go to her dorm and he'd deal with it. Obediently, Avery returned to the Slytherin common room, her heart thumping. She hoped no one would stare at her. A few people did, and she kept her eyes down as she hurried to her dorm.

When she got there, Avery was dismayed to see only Pansy and some other first year girls were in the dorm, but not Dev.

"Rat me out, did you?" Pansy asked with a sneer.

"No." Avery lied quickly. Pansy's lips twitched.

"Liar."

Even though the accusation was true, it still hurt to hear. Avery mindlessly picked at her hand and tried to hide in her bed.

"What a freak." She heard Pansy complain. Then the lights were out, and Avery quietly listened for the sound of Dev opening the door to come in. She strained her ears to hear Dev walking to her bed, and for the sound of Dev slipping underneath her covers. She waited in the dark, listening past the gentle breathing of her dorm-mates and past Pansy's obnoxious snores.

Avery didn't hear Dev, and reluctantly fell asleep.


	14. Chapter 13 Snow

Chapter 13 - Snow

Snow was falling fast over the Hogwarts grounds, giving the castle a beautiful washed out look. Avery watched the flakes spiral gently downwards as she penned an essay thoughtfully. She found solace in working hard, and it helped her ignore the taunts of the Pureblood elitists who insisted she was impossible to teach. She'd show them.

It also helped take her mind off of home. Despite how much she loved Hogwarts, and magic, and her new best friend, she missed parts of her simple Muggle life. Potions actually made her miss learning long division, seeing as how her maths teacher's classroom never smelled like chopped eels and boiling salamander eyes. It was strange to think of what she'd being doing now, if she wasn't a witch...

An enchanted snowball smashed into the back of her head. Avery squeaked and looked around, but couldn't find the culprits. Assuming it to be Malfoy, her cheeks flushed in frustration and she threw her things into her bag.

"Oi, sorry miss, we were aiming for our brother!" It was one of the red-haired twins, Fred or George. Avery couldn't tell which.

"Fred! George! 5 points from Gryffindor for attacking a first year!"

"Come off it Percy, we weren't attacking her!"

"Yeah, we were aiming at you!"

"Enchanted snowball fights are against the rules!" Percy, clearly their brother, waggled a finger at them.

"I think Percy thinks he's our mother." Fred, or George, said. Avery had to make a point of recognizing who was who. Before she had to witness a family argument, she slipped away through a crowd of second year Ravenclaws, who were wrapped up in scarves of bronze and blue. She found Dev, not wearing hardly enough clothing, and laying out in the snow.

"Dev!" She called, approaching the girl in short sleeves. "Where's your robe?"

"I like the snow!" Dev responded, wiggling a little. "I always lay in it."

"Aren't you freezing?"

"No." Dev said flatly, though Avery saw her shiver.

"You! First year! Why aren't you properly dressed? You'll catch a cold!" Percy's voice rang across the grounds.

"Uh-oh." Avery looked worried. "That's a prefect. I think he's really strict!"

Dev shrugged, but got up. "I was done anyway." She said, brushing snow from her shoulders. "Want to go inside?"

"Yeah, actually. Do you want my robe?" Avery offered.

"I'm fine, thanks." She said, and they walked together back to the castle. The dungeons were icy in this season, and Avery was baffled by Dev's refusal to take her offer.

When they got inside, there were several Slytherins huddled by the fireplace, keeping toasty. Avery sat cross-legged on a rug to continue her essay, while Dev joined her with a bundle of blankets.

"Finally cold?" Avery asked, sitting close to her friend.

"I like blankets." Dev sniffed. She wriggled cozily into them, and watched Avery scratch away her work by the light of the flames. "Are you staying over during the Christmas holidays?" She asked.

"Hm, well..." Avery stopped, turning over the options in her head. She missed home, sure, but she didn't really want to go back to her house. "What do they do here?"

"Oh, well, there's a feast, and I think we get our presents sent by owl." Dev said, after thinking for a moment. "I'm staying, so I was wondering..."

"Well of course I'll stay!" Avery said, smiling. "We could stay up together!"

Dev's face beamed. "Yeah! And maybe have the fireplace to ourselves."

Avery laughed. "That would definitely be nice!" She agreed.

They sat there, soaking in the warmth, and made their plans for the upcoming holiday.

Meanwhile, faraway in the castle, a boy was out of bed, and gazing into a mirror...

Avery was trying to make her way to Charms, though a large group of fifth years was making this harder than it should. Someone calling her name made her turn her head and stop, despite being late already.

"Avery!" Harry Potter squeezed into a small space that wasn't inhabited by older students, which wasn't difficult given his small size. "Avery, I need to speak to you!"

"What is it, Harry?" Avery asked, looking nervous. "I'm late for Charms, but I can't get through."

"Listen, this is important! There's a dog here, a huge, monstrous dog! With three heads! In the castle!" Harry looked alarmed, and Avery took a moment to let that sink in.

"Are you sure?" She asked, uncertain.

"Yes! I saw it! Last night... and there was a mirror, too, I wish I could have shown you..."

"Well, there are lots of mirrors in the castle you can show me, Harry."

"But it was different! Look, when I saw my reflection, it showed me my parents!"

Avery stared at him. "Are they ghosts?" She asked, slightly afraid.

"No, but I don't know what they are." Harry admitted. "Sorry... I should let you go to class."

"It's okay." Avery said, feeling suddenly very sorry for him. "Just be careful, okay? I'll see you later!" With that, Avery tried to hurry to class, where Flitwick looked surprised to see her.

"Miss Liddell! Kind of you to join us. Ah, 5 points from Slytherin, I'm afraid, for your tardiness..."

"I couldn't get through, sir." Avery said, hurrying to her seat. A few other Slytherins snickered.

"Took long enough!" Dev hissed. "I've had to sit here with... her!"

"She's not really that bad." Avery whispered back. Carly was sitting with her arms folded.

"I'd just run into them, is what I'd do." Carly advised. "Get out of my way, I have places to be!"

"Well, I got stopped, too." Avery admitted.

"By who?" Dev asked, scribbling something on her parchment.

"Harry Potter. He was trying to warn me about a monster."

"I like monsters." Carly said. "What kind was it?"

"A giant three-headed dog. He said it's in the castle."

"A giant monster dog?" Dev looked surprised. I know the castle's big, but wouldn't we have seen it?"

"I don't know, but he insists it's here!"

"I hate dogs." Carly sniffed. "Nevermind."

"Aren't you worried?" Avery asked.

"No. I don't care much." Carly replied. "Besides, they can do magic here, so I guess they could shrink it into a little three headed dog or something if they needed to."

"I... I guess." Avery looked a little more relieved. "Our teachers will protect us."

"Eh. Or the students, you never know. Personally, I don't think teachers actually do anything." Carly said, flicking her wand and making a flower on her desk jingle. "Except give us homework and make us do dumb stuff. What do we need to jingle flowers for? This is stupid. I'd rather have a flower that shoots fire."

"Because that's dangerous?" Avery suggested.

"She doesn't care." Dev reminded her.

"I do care." Carly said quickly. "I'd care if it caught my robe on fire. Anything else... meh."

Dev sighed.

"Are you going home for Christmas?" Avery asked, trying to change the subject.

"No." Carly said dryly. "My mom's sent letters begging me to, but I don't want to. I don't even like Christmas."

Dev gasped. "How do you NOT like Christmas?" She asked, accusingly.

Carly scowled. "None of your business. So shut up!"

Oh dear, Avery thought. This was not a good subject change.

"Um... so the jingling flowers sound pretty." She said meekly.

"Hmph." Carly looked down at her desk, shutting down from them. Dev silently mouthed, "What's her problem?"

Avery wasn't sure what the problem was, but she felt pretty awful.

**A/N: Yeah I know I'm horrible and never update and I suck. I have a lot of things I've been trying to write, I've been playing Skyrim, and I've been meeting new people. I'm sorry. But Dev was kind enough to make some fan-doodles (she requested I not call them art) for this fic, so if you're interested see them here: www .flickr photos/squishedkittens/**

**Just remove the two spaces I put in there. IGNORE THE CICERO PORTRAIT I DREW THAT FOR TUMBLR AS A JOKE. Ahem. Thanks!**


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